Evil Incarnate: Heaven's Tears
by GoldenLocket14
Summary: That git, Harry bloody Potter, left me. He just up and left to save the world and expects me to be okay with it? Well I'm not! I won't stand for it...Wait a sec, is that Malfoy carrying my trunk? HPGWDM love triangle, seventh year story
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is a huge love triangle story with a lot of fluff at the beginning and a lot backstabbing and plots through the middle and end. If you're not a fan of mushy scenes bear though them, they were sort of necessary and they're short. I do not own Harry Potter but I do quite ardently love it.**

Heaven's Tears

She glided through the flowers, a myriad of flowers that were riotously colorful. Her white robe swirled behind her in an ethereal breeze. She was walking toward a pool of the freshest looking water she'd ever seen, it sparkled in the sun and rippled tauntingly at her. She felt an unquenchable, urging thirst and started to walk faster. The air shimmered with a golden haze that cast an enchanted look on the whole field. Something tugged at the back of her mind, it caused her to stop and turn around. A staff, shining black ebony with a red orb on top that glittered insistently, stood straight up not ten feet from her. She didn't even notice the dead and blackened flowers around the staff. It pulled at her, called to her almost more strongly than the pool of water. She couldn't decide between the staff and the pool. Warily she started to walk towards the…

"Ginny! Wake up; you don't want to miss breakfast do you?" Hermione shook a groggy Ginny from her dreams. Ginny pushed the bushy-haired girl away.

"I'm getting up alright?" She struggled to a sitting position and tried to grasp the remnants of her dream but couldn't. "What's today?"

"August 24, we're going to Diagon Alley later so your mum insists that you eat breakfast." Hermione pulled a blue shirt and a pair of shorts out of Ginny's drawers and tossed them over to her. "C'mon the boys are already down there surprisingly enough." She left Ginny to get dressed in peace.

To Ginny when 'the boys' were referred to around her she wondered why people didn't just say Harry. They were probably afraid she'd get upset if they weren't careful around her. It'd be easier if everyone stopped treating her like she was made of glass, that more than anything was a reminder of last year. She went down to the kitchen and plastered a smile on her face, no one had to know just how much she couldn't stand Harry right then.

Harry looked up from his toast and nearly groaned aloud when Ginny walked in the room. She looked beautiful as always, he had to remind himself every day that not being involved with her was for the best. Sometimes he didn't quite believe it.

She smiled in the general direction of the world before placidly sitting down and pulling some pancakes toward her. Harry looked back down at his plate and pretended to be chewing while in deep thought.

He found however that he didn't have to pretend. It all of a sudden hit him that today he was leaving with Ron and Hermione. That this was the last time he'd see Ginny until Christmas time. Oh she was going to be so mad at them when she found out. He groaned aloud this time.

"Something wrong Harry?" Ginny asked politely but gave him a look that clearly said she didn't trust him.

"Nothing other than the fact that I wish I was still sleeping." The lie came easily and he flashed a grin at her before returning back to his riveting plate of food.

"I see." She got up from the table and walked to the front door. "I'm going to get a bit of fresh air Mum, you know just a stroll around the yard." Ginny departed before Mrs. Weasly had a chance to respond and scold her for barely touching her food.

The balmy air hit her face and the smell of freshly cut grass had a calming effect on her. But still emotions roiled within her. She had spent the whole damn summer doing exactly the same thing everyday: pretending that Harry was just another random person who just happened to be around all the time. She hated that he always seemed to be trying to tell her to forget him and that it just wouldn't be good for either of them. She hated his covert glances that said he was lying about not wanting her even though he'd never do anything about it.

But worst of all was the fact that she knew he was going to leave eventually and he might not ever come back. The only good thing was that maybe if he was gone she wouldn't care for him so much.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets and sat down at the edge of the pond. But maybe for just a little while she'd wait for him…

"Are you all quite sure you don't want me to come with you?" Mrs. Weasly wrung her hands nervously. "I mean I could always just pop in to check on you…"

"C'mon Mum, honestly we'll be fine! Don't be so worried, we're of age now after all." Ron said impatiently eager to leave the house.

"If you say so…" She looked helplessly at the four teens in front of her. "Well goodbye then. I love you all." Hugs were passed around and then the four flooed to the Leaky Cauldron.

They walked out of the Leaky Cauldron and into the bright sunlight. Ginny was closely watching the Golden Trio. They seemed to be looking for someone who wasn't around.

Harry craned his neck and snuck what he seemed to think was a discreet glance at Ginny. She noted it and tried to keep herself from screaming.

She knew that they were going to leave but she was still furious. They didn't have the right to leave her here; they could have waited till the middle of the night and apparated then. But no, she was sure they were going to leave in her presence, a testimony to just how determined they were.

Hermione gasped and started waving to someone off to her left. Ginny was practically cutting into her palms, her fists were clenched so tight. Then all of a sudden Ron grabbed her arm and pulled her along after him and the others into a nearby alley-way.

There was a moment of waiting and awkward silence in which Ginny sent death glares to her three supposed friends. But then a figure entered the alley. The sunlight caused a shadow to fall across her face so Ginny didn't immediately recognize the stranger. When she stepped forward the face of Tonks was revealed.

Tonks looked grim and walked directly to Harry. "You're positive you want to go through with this?" Her hair was blond today and she had a scattering of freckles, but she was still vaguely recognizable as Tonks.

"There's no other way, we will go." Harry replied just as grimly. He looked somewhere in the direction of heaven. "Thank you for agreeing to this though."

"Yes well, you'd all better go now before I stop you." Tonks said grudgingly. "Just be careful okay?" She walked to the end of the alley to wait.

"Goodbye Ginny." Ron hugged her and so did Hermione. Ginny just muttered goodbye and kept her eyes down. Two pops later and Harry and Ginny were alone.

"You understand why I have to do this don't you?" Harry looked hopefully at her. "Believe me, if there was any way I could do this and still be with you I'd do it in a moment. But I just can't have you in danger; it'd kill me if anything happened to you."

"I don't think its right for you to just leave me like this." Ginny tried to glare at him. She wanted to yell, scream, anything to show him just how much anger she'd built up. But instead she spoke in a whisper. "I don't know if I can forgive you for breaking my heart like this."

"Oh, Gin." He pulled her into a hug and held her as tightly as he could without suffocating her. "You have to forgive me, because I need you to pray that we all come out of this alive. I need you to wait for me and love me even though I'm gone. I need you to be there when this is all over." He stroked her hair and memorized its scent: lilacs. "I love you Ginny Weasly."

She tried to choke back her sobs. "I'm afraid to love you, but I can't help it. So just go, go do your saving the world thing."

Harry pulled away a bit and looked into her chocolate eyes. "Goodbye." He leaned down and kissed her briefly hoping to communicate just how much he was feeling with that one kiss. He stepped back and with a pop he was gone. Maybe forever.

**A/N So what did y'all think? Any good? Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Ready for chapter two? My sister has a tattoo which is what gave me the idea for this chapter. **

Ginny stood looking lost for a moment, and then briskly walked back to Tonks. She looked concernedly at Ginny for a moment then linked arms with her.

"C'mon, we have a lot of shopping to do. I have special instructions from McGonagall to help you do your school shopping. You are going to be taking all NEWT level classes, your grades are good enough and we think that you're going to be needed." Tonks stopped outside Madam Malkin's. "Also you've received an anonymous sum of one hundred galleons which you can use or refuse."

Ginny made a face. 'Three guesses who it's from.' She thought dryly to herself as she followed Tonks in to the store. But then the beginning of what Tonks had said set in. She was being advanced! Finally she'd be able to actually challenge herself. Plus that meant she'd be taking classes with the seventh years. But they thought she was going to be needed. War was at hand for sure.

"Now this is enough money for you to get all new school robes, a set of dress robes, and then we can get whatever you want with what's left over." Tonks started glancing through the robes trying to find something as close to Ginny's size as possible. Ginny usually hated charity, but she couldn't help thinking that she might as well use the money since Harry would be too much of an ass to take it back.

An hour later Ginny was ecstatic and laden with new robes that actually fit in all the right places and weren't so short you could see her ankles. Also she had an emerald green set of dress robes with gold stitching in the design of a lion on the back, it was also trimmed in gold. When Ginny first put it on she fell instantly in love. The v-neck came just low enough, the bodice hugged her sensuously, but then it dramatically flared in a mass of swirling fabric that was graceful, elegant, and allowed for limitless movement.

They bought all her school books, potion ingredients, and everything else she needed for school. The two sat down to ice cream and were chatting idly enjoying the warm sunshine. Ginny was determinedly not saying anything to do with the Golden Trio, she'd have plenty of time later to get mad about that.

"You know you still have thirty galleons left." Tonks said mischievously. "What do you want to do with it?"

Ginny thought for a moment, actually she had a lot of ideas for what to do with the money. "We-ll, I think I'll put fifteen away and spend the other fifteen on a bit of a makeover." She winked at Tonks. "You know to go with the new robes."

Tonks leaned forward interested. "You mean like a haircut? That only costs ten. What about the other five?"

Ginny grinned. "A tattoo."

Ginny stepped out of the salon feeling like a princess. Her hair which used to hang down to the middle of her back was now three inches past her shoulders. Her waves were trained into soft layers and she had bangs sweeping to one side of her face. Tonks liked the cut but wasn't so sure about the second part of Ginny's idea.

Think of what your mother would say! Do really want to buy a tattoo charm?" Tonks looked at Ginny pleadingly. Ginny just grinned and walked into a store that dealt in cosmetics, piercings, and tattoos. "Fine. But make sure it's a small one."

"Excuse me miss, but I'd like to buy a charm." Ginny said to the lady with the eyebrow ring behind the counter.

"What would you like it to look like?" She held up a board with pictures on it. Ginny looked carefully at the images then gasped. She pointed to a seven of hearts with a red rose sitting on it.

"That's a good choice. How large would you like it and where?"

"I'd like it to be about the size of my palm and right here on my thigh." She indicated the portion of her leg right below her hip.

The lady took out her wand and muttered an incantation on the aforementioned leg. Ginny giggled because it tickled slightly and thanked the lady. She paid and walked to the fire place with Tonks.

She stepped in and shouted "The Burrow!"

"Welcome back!" Mrs. Weasly greeted her youngest warmly. Apparently she knew about the Trio. "So Ginny, show me what you got."

Ginny looked at her mother and sighed, she hadn't noticed the hair. She really wasn't surprised; her mother probably wasn't even going to pay attention to anything Ginny said at all. She'd be too wrapped up in thinking about _them_. "Not right now mum, I think I'm going to take a nap for now. I'm a bit tired."

"Oh." Her mother patted her on the head. "Well we don't want you getting sick this close to school. I suppose I'll see you at dinner."

Ginny moved away and trotted up the stairs to her room. She flopped down on her bed and dropped her bags to the floor. She stared at the ceiling and thought of how miserable Hogwarts was going to be. The number of students was sure to drop, and that meant putting up with whoever was there.

She fervently hoped Collin and Luna would be there, Ginny was sure she could stand them. Plus she would need someone to talk to. Maybe Lavender and Parvatti wouldn't be there. What a relief that would be. On the brightest side, most of the Slytherins probably won't be there. But the best thing that brought a smile to her lips was the knowledge that Malfoy would definitely not be there.

Draco Malfoy stared at the letter in front him in awe. They wanted him back, he couldn't understand why. Even Voldemort wouldn't take him back, the only reason he wasn't dead was because his father was. But here was proof that someone still wanted him even though he had committed an offense he would have thought was unforgivable. A smile tugged at his lips as he read the letter again. The he lifted his eyes to the woman sitting across from him and the smile was instantly gone. Her hair was graying, her youthful features were gaunt and strained, her eyes once a beautiful and shining blue were dull and sorrowful. Draco looked at his mother and felt a sorrow not unlike her own.

**A/N I imagine that Narcissa could be a decent person. I have to admire her love of her son and her dedication to protecting him. It proves that someone might have hugged him as a child. Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N So now onto chapter three, and onto Hogwarts!**

Mrs. Weasly had eventually noticed her daughter's changed appearance, although it wasn't until Ginny was about to get onto the Hogwarts Express. The number of students milling around was greatly diminished, but it was fuller than Ginny had expected.

"Ginny, did you do something with your hair?" Mrs. Weasly looked at Ginny with all her attention for the first time in days.

"Yes mum, I got it cut. Do you like it?" Ginny had practiced this a thousand times in front of her mirror, perfecting her tone so she didn't sound annoyed or angry or upset. A sigh nearly escaped her.

"Yes dear it's lovely. But why would you want to get rid of your long hair? It suited you."

Ginny tried not to shout. "Because I wanted something new, I've had the same hair for sixteen years. I thought a change would be nice."

"It is it's just so…short." Mrs. Weasly glanced about the station her eyes unfocused. "Well I suppose you should get on the train, it'll be leaving soon."

Ginny nodded. "Bye mum. I'll write to you." She hugged her mother and started to walk away.

She turned to wave at her mother. Molly Weasly waved back and brushed a tear from her eye, and then she apparated out of the station. Ginny walked to the train, hauling her trunk behind her. She stood on the step and tried to pull it up after her but she was having some difficulty, it wouldn't fit through the door. She kicked it in frustration.

"God damn it!" She let it fall and stared at it for a full three seconds before someone walked over and picked it up for her.

"Need some help?" Ginny recognized the smooth voice and nearly choked.

"Malfoy!" Ginny looked up at the steely eyed boy who was grinning at her. "What are you doing here?"

Getting on the train and helping you with your trunk." He resisted the temptation to smirk. "Now if you move out of the doorway I can actually get this thing on board."

To stunned to respond, Ginny moved aside. Once they were both in the hallway he handed her the trunk, dipped his head in parting, and walked to the next car.

Ginny sat in a car with Collin and Neville, Luna was on the train but she was in the loo. Sunshine shone through the window and into her eyes. The passing scenery was probably more interesting than the conversation going on, but Ginny hadn't decided yet. Collin was talking about his camera, and all the bits and pieces that went with it. He said a lot of numbers and a lot of things about lighting that really just sounded like gibberish. The scenery was definitely more interesting. Well, at least there was only an hour and a half of this left.

"I need to go to the loo." Ginny said hastily and left. She walked down the corridor and passed Luna who gave her a friendly smile. Ginny passed into the next car not really going anywhere specific. She glanced in the compartment windows, sometimes they were empty and sometimes there were people inside laughing with their friends.

She was almost to the end of that car too when she stopped and peered into a compartment on her left. Inside there was only one person, gazing forlornly out of the window and clutching a letter in his hand. A piece of platinum hair fell into his eyes and he pushed it away impatiently.

Ginny for some reason clearly unknown to her, slid the door open and slipped inside. He ignored her for a minute then glanced up to see who had walked in. When Ginny had his attention she caught something flash across his eyes but in a minute it was gone. What she had seen was hard to place, she thought maybe it was regret.

"Are you okay?" She gestured at the letter. "Bad news?"

Draco heard the hesitancy with which she spoke. "You could say that."

"Oh." She looked down at her hands. "Mind if I sit?" He shook his head and she sat wondering what the hell she was doing.

A silence overtook the small compartment as Ginny studied the ground intently and Draco studied her.

"Why are you here?" He finally asked.

Ginny thought for a moment trying to think of something that would at least sound plausible. "Uh, well, I didn't say thank you for helping me with my trunk." She mentally beat herself over the head, how cheesy was that?

"You're welcome, it wasn't a problem." She wasn't looking at his face. He followed her gaze to the letter at his side. He slipped it into his cloak so she couldn't read it. "Your friends are probably wondering what you're doing in the loo that's taking so long." He winked at her.

A surprised laugh escaped her followed by a puzzled frown. "How did you know I said I was going to the loo?"

"I'm spying on you!" He laughed at her outraged expression. "What else would you have said?" He pulled a mock sincere look onto his face and pitched his voice a few octaves higher. "I just wanted to leave all of you wonderful, Gryffindor friends of mine to go and thank that Slytherin scum-bag Malfoy for being so considerate and helping me with my trunk."

"You have a point." She smiled. "Actually you have two points, I really should go back. Collin might be insulted if I miss his entire bloody monologue about his precious camera." She stood to go and held out her hand. "We'll keep this between us?"

He shook her hand. "Yeah, just between us."

The Great Hall was missing two tables. Ginny and Luna walked in and stood stunned. In fact no one sat down; they all just stood in the doorway staring at the tables like a bunch of fish who have just discovered that there pond has dried up while they were napping. Many of these fish were thinking what houses sat at what table, some of the dimmer fish were merely wondering if some people weren't going to be allowed to sit.

"What are you all just standing there for?" McGonagall walked past everyone and into the hall leading a small group of ten first years. "Just sit where ever you like, we're removing the house limits."

Immediately people sat down and sorted themselves into several small groups. Ginny not having anywhere better to be sat next to Luna and waited patiently while the first years were sorted. There turned out to be four Gryffindors, three Ravenclaws, and three Hufflepuffs. As was expected there weren't any Slytherins, well that is if you didn't count Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. The two of them were sitting together on the opposite side of the table and a little to the left.

Ginny found her eyes straying from Luna and her plate more than once towards Draco. She was embarrassed to find her eyes meeting his on occasion and when she had finished dinner, she hastily made her way to her dormitory. She changed into her pajamas and climbed into her four poster bed.

Amazing, how could her feelings toward a person be so radically demolished in one day? Ginny had no intention of even considering thinking him a decent person. But then she wasn't quite convinced he was the evil slime ball she had believed him to be. But she was sure of one thing, and that was that she was absolutely determined to have as much fun this year as time and morals allowed.

"You seem a bit off, are you okay?" Blaise looked at Draco with a faintly concerned look on his face. The two were sitting in the Slytherin common room. It was odd how comforting the emptiness was.

"I've just been thinking about how different this year is going to be. I mean we don't have to put up with Pansy for one, and maybe we'll actually be able to talk about something other than the Dark Lord for once." Draco replied, not telling the whole truth at all. He had been thinking about the Weaslette all day. But certainly for different reasons than she was thinking about him. A regretful, guilty, rather uncomfortable feeling crept into his chest because he knew he was going to have to tell Blaise the truth. Draco knew better than to ignore these sorts of things.

"You're right of course. I'm sort of looking forward to it. I think we could really have fun with this opportunity." Blaise looked into the fire. "Don't you agree?"

"More than you'd ever believe."

"You know you really should just stay in the Gryffindor dormitories with me. It would be a lot easier for us to talk and it's not like either of us have any other friends to hang out with." Ginny said to Luna after swallowing a mouthful of toast.

"I know, I suppose I could move in today after classes…" Luna looked dreamily at the fast approaching McGonagall. "I believe we're about to receive our schedules."

"Quite right you are Miss Lovegood. Miss Weasly I hope you have no difficulty with your classes this year, you'll have to work extra hard if you wish to succeed." McGonagall said handing the two girls sheets of parchment.

"Ginny, you have all seventh year classes!" Luna's voice was surprisingly sharp. "I guess I'll have to move in if I ever want to see you this year!"

"I completely forgot! Oh well, we'll still have plenty of time together." Ginny looked helplessly at the color coded schedule in her hands. She would need as much time to study as was humanly possible with out a time-turner. "Anyway, I have potions first so I need to get going. Believe me, I do not want to know what Slughorn is going to say about my being advanced. He's a bloody lunatic if he likes you!"

Luna giggled and waved as Ginny picked up her bag and walked off in the direction of the dungeons. When she got there the door was open and there were already a few people sitting at the desks. Draco Malfoy was sitting at one such desk reading the same letter she'd seen him with on the train. He looked up and glanced around, when his eyes met hers he briefly let a smile cross his lips before looking away and placing the letter in his bag.

"Miss Weasly!" A voice boomed from behind her. She turned to find Professor Slughorn coming out of his office. "What are you doing here? The sixth years aren't scheduled for their first class until tomorrow." Ginny opened her mouth to explain but Slughorn cut her off. "Not that I'm unhappy to see you, it's always a pleasure to have one of my best students, but surely you understand my confusion." Again Ginny tried in vain to explain and was again cut off. "Did a teacher send you, do you have a message? Or perhaps you were just popping in to say hello?"

Ginny put up a hand and spoke as quickly as she could while remaining intelligible. "I've been promoted to all seventh year classes, which is why I'm here. I hope that won't be a problem sir?"

He stared blankly at her for a moment then grinned broadly. "I always knew you were bright. You my girl are destined for great things! Please, please take a seat. I believe I will partner you with Mr. Malfoy. No objections?" Both Ginny and Draco opened their mouths to reply but were yet again cut off. "None? Good!"

Ginny sighed and cursed her luck as she sat down next to Malfoy.

"Don't look to happy now, you might break your jaw if you smile too much." He grinned at her exasperated expression. "It can't be that bad now can it?"

Ginny gave him a look that clearly said he was dimmer than Ron. "Oh no, can't you see I'm thrilled to be spending the year stuck with the leader of the Future Death Eaters Anonymous organization?"

Draco's face darkened considerably. He toyed with a bit of Ginny's hair mockingly. "What I do see is that you'd much rather be sitting next to Saint Potter right now." He whispered this in her ear still twisting a strand of her hair. "But I'd like you to know I'm not as awful as you may think, things change and in turn, people change. Judgments have to be flexible." Ginny shuddered as his breath brushed her cheek.

All of a sudden he let go of her and leaned back in his chair assuming an air of nonchalance. The last students trickled in, including Neville Longbottom and Seamus. Slughorn tapped the board and a set of directions appeared. The class erupted in activity as all fourteen students started assembling ingredients and cauldrons. Draco pulled a silver knife out of his bag and began dicing bowtruckles.

Ginny gave him one suspicious glance before settling in to work. For the next hour the two worked in silence, wordlessly motioning when either needed to have something passed to them. With fifteen minutes to spare their potion had bubbled to the appropriate mint green color that signaled it was finished. Slughorn walked over and exclaimed over their brilliant work and automatically assigned them full points and excused them from homework for that night for such excellent work on the first day back.

Draco smirked and Ginny smiled happily. When Slughorn had walked away Draco looked at Ginny. "I told you it wouldn't be that bad."

"If you happen to remember we didn't actually say anything to each other." Ginny replied dryly

"However we did do an excellent job with our potion, which should count for something."

"I guess so…" She looked about the room with a carefully composed expression. "So. How was your summer?"

Draco half grimaced half smiled at her. "It was hell thanks. My father got killed, my mother went practically catatonic, I spent most of my time sitting on a bed staring at the ceiling, oh and I received plenty of death threats from the so called members of the Future Death Eaters Anonymous organization." Draco looked satisfied with her look of utter surprise. He watched interestedly as her expression went from disgusted to unbelieving to sympathetic. He smiled. "So how was yours? Have any fun with Saint Potter?" He asked sarcastically.

"If you must know mine wasn't much better. People treated me like glass just because Harry and I broke up, I was abandoned by the bloody Golden Trio in an alley way, damned Harry bloody Potter told me to wait for him because he loves me, which is such bull by the way, and to top it all off my mother ignored me half the time because she was to wrapped up in worrying about those bloody traitors." Ginny had gone red in the face and seemed to have forgotten who she was talking to for a moment. She looked at Draco's look of calm understanding.

"Well, well, well, it seems there's more than meets the eye to the supposedly perfect Golden Trio. By the way, I wouldn't trust Potter if I were you. He's a total wanker."

"I'm aware of that." Ginny pushed her flaming hair behind her ear. "I just wish…" She trailed off and looked lost for a moment.

"What? What do you wish?" Draco leaned forward and looked intently at her eyes.

The bell rang and Ginny sprang up. "Um, never mind. I was just rambling." With that she walked away glancing back to see Draco's silver eyes following her the whole way.

**A/N Review pretty please!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N hey y'all! Well I think I probably left you guys with enough to think about after that chapter, how about I continue? I can't wait till we get to the good part of this story!**

Ginny sat through the rest of her classes determinedly paying attention to the teacher, taking extremely detailed notes, and being altogether more studious than was natural for any sixteen year old. The reason she was being so abnormally like Hermione Granger was because she was absolutely resolute in her decision to avoid any sort of contact with that slime ball Malfoy. Said slime ball had been trying to get her attention all day, whether by calling her name, throwing notes at her head, or just staring at her until she thought she could bear it no longer.

Classes finally ended and Ginny rushed from the Transfiguration room as if she were being chased by a rabid, flesh eating Iron Belly dragon. She had almost made it to the Great Hall, and freedom, when a hand grabbed her arm from behind. She felt herself being dragged into an empty class room and turned to find Draco Malfoy leaning against the door looking winded.

"Geez woman, are you afraid I'm trying to kill you? All I've been trying to do is ask you a question!" He ran a hand through his hair mussing it up a little.

"Really?" Ginny looked at him suspiciously.

"Really, I meant nothing in any way life threatening." Draco smiled reassuringly.

"Alright, what do you want?" She glanced at the door behind him in a way that suggested she wished it were open and unlocked.

"I just wanted to ask if you'd be interested in studying with me some time." Draco looked nervous and he stumbled a little over his words, Ginny hadn't been expecting either.

She tilted her head to consider him, a battle raging in her mind.

_He's bloody Draco Malfoy, of course you don't want to study with him._

_**He is rather attractive though. And you do have to admit there are slim pickings this year.**_

_Excuse me but have you forgotten that he's the one who betrayed us all to the death eaters last year?!?_

_**Do you remember all the stuff he's been through for not wanting to continue his evil ways? That's so romantic and tragic.**_

_He deserved all that and you know it! Do you happen to recall all the times he teased you, Weaslette blood traitor?_

_**Oh, I remember. But do you know how much it will piss Harry off that you're dating his sworn enemy?**_

_True._

"Sure, let me know when." She smiled and Draco sighed, relieved.

"How about we meet Friday evening by the lake after dinner?" He sounded like he'd given this a lot of thought.

"Uh, okay. I'm free then." The light slanting through the window set her hair afire, almost imitating the blood red sunset.

"Great." He opened the door for her. Ginny turned around and waved, and then she walked into the Great Hall leaving him standing in the hallway.

After dinner Ginny headed up to the Gryffindor Tower with Luna, the two walked in an unusual silence. When they finally got to the portrait Ginny was ready to burst with the news about Draco.

"Hinky punk." Ginny and Luna stepped through the portrait and into the brightly lit Common Room. Not surprisingly it was nearly empty. Ginny led the way to the girl's staircase and ran all the way up to the sixth year dormitories.

"Ginny? What's this all about?" Luna said in a puzzled tone. "Why all the secrecy?"

Ginny grinned a little goofily and clasped her hands in front of her. "You'll think it's terribly bad of me."

"I see." Luna grinned. "It's a boy isn't it?"

"Yes, but this is especially awful." Ginny's voice was excited and a little high pitched.

"Ooh, this is exciting! Who is it and why is it naughty?" Luna still managed to sound dreamy as she said this which sort of amazed Ginny but she quickly replied.

"I have a date on Friday night, someone so good for my Potter problem." Ginny sat down and gave Luna a secretive grin. "Do you swear on _The Quibbler_ that you won't breathe a word of this to anyone?"

Luna nodded solemnly.

"Draco Malfoy." Ginny whispered waiting for her friend's reaction.

"WHAT?!?" Luna didn't sound so dreamy anymore.

"Shh!" Ginny hissed. "Do you want to alert the whole of Hogwarts?"

Luna calmed herself with a series of hand movements and breathing exercises. "Okay. Draco, huh?" Ginny nodded. "Well I guess I'm just going to have to hear the whole story." So Ginny told her about her trunk and the train and about their classes and how he asked her out.

"But I think what convinced me to say yes was just how much it will piss Harry off that I'm dating him. Is that terrible and horrible of me?"

Luna sat and thought about that seriously for a moment. "Yes, but it's okay." Ginny looked confused. "Go ahead and date him, but Ginny be careful and remember to keep an eye on what Draco does, don't get so wrapped up in him that you don't remember what he used to be. You wouldn't want that to bite you in the ass."

"I didn't expect that from you, but it's good advice. Believe me, he'll never know what hit him if I find out he's doing anything shady. But what about Harry?"

"He doesn't have to know until you come up with a good story to tell him, then you can throw it in his face or apologize for being such a bitch. It depends on how things with you and Draco go." Luna smiled.

"Wow, you're good at this, thanks." Ginny was a little stunned but pleased with her friend's advice none the less. "Well, I have an essay to write so we'll talk some more later." And the two worked on homework for the rest of the night.

"Spit it out, I know you didn't tell me something last night and I know you're not telling me something now." Blaise said to Draco as he sat staring into the fire.

Draco glanced at him and then said quite calmly, "I have a date with Ginny Weasly this Friday." He heard Blaise make an incredulous noise behind him. "It's totally true, I asked and she said yes."

"Yeah, you want to explain why she'd agree to go out with the boy who let murderers into the school for the Dark Lord?"

"I don't know. I told her I had changed; I guess she believed me after all." Draco looked at Blaise with a conspiratorial expression. "But there's more to the story."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Ginny! Ginny come here quick!" Ginny turned to find Colin racing towards the green houses. His blonde hair was getting all mussed and his bag was bouncing around haphazardly and he had his camera in his left hand which he was waving in her general direction. He had looked exactly like that in first year, except now he was 5'10".

"What Colin? I have to make it all the way down to the dungeons so this better be good." Ginny tried to sound cross but she smiled at him none the less.

"That works out then, it's on the way there." He reached for her hand and dragged her to the castle and down to the corridor next to Slughorn's classroom.

It was damp and dim same as usual. Ginny looked around trying to find whatever abnormality Colin wanted her to see.

"Alright Colin, amaze me."

"Shh, it's over there." He pointed to the darkest corner visible. Ginny sighed; of course this was going to be creepy. "Follow me, but don't say a word."

Ginny silently followed him as he slowly crept toward the aforementioned corner. Ginny imagined that the closer they got the colder the corridor seemed, she also imagined she could feel someone creeping up behind her. Said someone, she imagined, was right behind her, breathing on her neck. She imagined that perhaps she wasn't imagining the hand on her shoulder.

Ginny screamed. Several things happened in a quick succession following her blood curdling scream. The first was whatever was in the corner made a popping noise and disappeared, the second was that Colin swore very loudly, spun around and fell flat on his face. The third and final thing was that Harry Potter put his hand over Ginny's lips to shut her up.

Her cheeks flamed suddenly and she slapped his hand away.

"What in Merlin's name are you _doing?_" The grin that he had previously been wearing slipped off his face.

"Are you mad at me?" True hurt was laced through his voice. In fact Ginny had been furious with him for scaring the crap out of her, showing up in her life again without any sort of warning, and looking so delicious and sad that she couldn't stay furious with him; which made her furious. But then that damn deliciously sad and attractive look started to kick in again and she suddenly couldn't remain furious.

She smiled at him and gave him a hug. "I'm not mad, you just surprised me." She let go and stepped back. "Why are you here?"

"Hermione had to ask McGonagall a question, so I pulled out the map and looked you up." He grinned happily; he didn't appear to be suffering from any kind of stress from the hunt for the Horcruxes.

"It's good to see you, but I'm late for potions and my partner may be a little cross if he has to cover for me." Ginny was sincerely sorry, but she was also feeling a little uncomfortable seeing as she was supposed to be breaking the heart of the extremely attractive boy in front of her.

"Oh, I forgot you'd be in classes right now. I thought it was strange you were in the dungeons." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Who's your partner?"

"Oh, it's just some Slytherin." Ginny glanced at her watch. "Well I really had better be going Harry." At this he looked very sad and his green eyes scrunched up in a way that broke her heart. So she hugged him again and very softly he whispered, "I love you."

Ginny fought the urge to cry. "I know. Me too." She kissed him quickly then grabbed her bag and raced to the Potions classroom. She didn't look back once so she didn't see Harry's lost and tired expression or Colin's bewildered one.

When she burst through the heavy door she saw that no one had started their potions and that Slughorn wasn't even in the room. She walked to her desk and sat down next to Draco.

"I'm fifteen minutes late, why isn't anyone working?" Ginny said in a low voice to her partner.

Draco grinned. "Slughorn was called away to see Professor Sprout about something, he'll be another ten minutes." Ginny sighed in relief. "So, where were _you_?"

"Oh, well you see Colin showed up outside of the green houses blathering about something I had to come and see. And well, I was late because of it." Ginny finished lamely.

"Yeah, and I just visited Lockheart in the loony-bin." Draco pretended to autograph the parchment in front of him.

Ginny gave him a helpless look but remained silent. He leaned toward her and gave her a determined look. "So what really happened?"

She sighed. "That's the truth, but I didn't mention that someone else showed up." She fidgeted with a loose string on her skirt.

"Uh-huh, who was it?" Draco looked uneasy. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Ginny mumbled.

"Gin, who showed up?" Draco asked sounding as persuasive and coaxing as he could.

"Harry."

"Potter?!"

"Yes! Don't be so loud and don't tell anyone!" Ginny lightly punched his arm.

"I see." And that was the last thing he said to her till the end of the class.

Ginny let him be silent; she didn't really feel like talking to anyone anyway. She did love Harry, she really did. But it hurt too much to love him, to not know if he would live to see her again, to not know where he was or what he was doing, to be unable to help. So why did he have to show up and tell her what she already knew, what she was already trying to forget. What would he say if he knew about Draco? What would he think of her if he knew she was just trying to spite him? If he knew, Ginny would never forgive herself.

So she and Draco worked silently once Slughorn reappeared and gave them instructions to make a bone growth potion. As usual they were the first to finish and as they sat Ginny couldn't help sneaking looks at Draco. His expression wasn't angry as it had been earlier, now it was simply thoughtful. His silver eyes were half closed giving him a sleepy, open look. Finally he turned to her with suddenly guarded eyes.

"What did he say to you?"

"Nothing I didn't already know."

"What did you say to him?"

"That I already knew what he was telling me." Ginny pleaded with him through her eyes not to be angry.

The bell rang signaling the end of classes for the day.

"I'll see you tonight then." Draco smiled genuinely at Ginny and helped her up.

"Great, I might stop by my dorm after dinner really quick before I go down to the lake."

"I'll be waiting." With that he walked out the door.

**A/N So ends chapter four. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Chapter five! Welcome minions, are you ready for this? Warning: Major fluff! Again…**

Ginny found Luna waiting for her in their usual seats with Colin and Maven, a Hufflepuff sixth year. She also found the Golden Trio sitting next to her usual seat.

'_Why__ are they still here? God must really hate me today.'_ Instead of letting these mutinous thoughts fight their way through to her face Ginny placed a warm smile there instead. She feigned being pleasantly surprised.

"Guys! What are you still doing here? I mean I saw Harry earlier but I didn't think you'd be sticking around." Ginny gushed, hoping that she didn't sound too fake. She embraced Hermione tightly, and kissed Ron on the cheek, and then she awkwardly hugged Harry from behind. She sat down next to Luna and started to pile food on her plate as a distraction.

Hermione gladly filled Ginny in on the details about why they were in Hogwarts. "Well you see I had to ask McGonagall to look something up for me, and that really didn't take much time. But we really didn't want to leave so soon, so the four of us talked it over and decided we should stay the night." Hermione smiled wistfully. "It is so good to be back, but it's especially good to see you all again."

Luna and Colin agreed as did Neville who had just walked over and high-fived Ron and Harry. Ginny nodded in an absent minded sort of way, her head spinning in panic. _'Oh no, oh no! This is so bad, they have such bad timing, why tonight?! How am I going to tell them I can't hang out with them because I have a _date_ with Draco?' _

Hermione broke in on her thoughts, still being the only member of the Golden Trio to speak seeing as the other two members were busy stuffing their faces. "So I was thinking Ginny that maybe we could all go down to the lake after dinner and catch up, relax for a while." Two things struck Ginny as Hermione said this. The first was that now she had the perfect excuse for everyone. The second thing was that Harry, Ron, and Hermione really looked like they needed to relax. She hadn't noticed the bags under their eyes, or their slumped shoulders. She hadn't noticed just how defeated they looked, and she thought _'I can't hurt them.'_

"I feel like such a jerk for saying this, but I have to study down by the lake with my Potions partner, we're not doing so hot." Lies, all lies. "But we should only be an hour or so, so maybe I can meet you guys in the Common Room once I've finished up?"

Harry looked disappointed, Ron suspicious, but Hermione looked concerned. "Do you need any help? Because you know I wouldn't mind giving you some pointers."

God bless Hermione for caring so much about school. "No really, we've got it covered." Ginny smiled, sighing inwardly. "Thanks for the offer though."

"Are you sure you'll be okay down their by your self?" Harry asked. Ginny couldn't see his eyes because the light was flashing off his glasses. _'That boy needs to get contacts.'_

"Why wouldn't she be? She's just studying with her partner." Hermione was getting all ready to defend Ginny and Harry knew it.

"I only ask, because, well…" Harry looked vaguely guilty about what he was about to say. _'Shit! He knows my partner is a Slytherin, and he's going to tell them. Then Ron is going to flip out, oh this is so bad, I have to do something!'_

"He's concerned because someone told him the Giant Squid has been acting up lately." Ginny swiftly covered giving Harry a meaningful look that said 'Don't you dare say another word.'

"Oh, well that's not a big deal. She'll be able to take care of that no sweat if anything happens." Ron grinned. "Anyway, the Giant Squid is harmless."

"Yeah Harry you have nothing to worry about." Hermione giggled a little.

"Unless a Nergle attacks her that is." Luna said pulling out a copy of _The Quibbler._

"Ri-ght." Colin said wearing a jaded look.

"Well would you look at that!" Ginny looked at her watch. "I really have to go, but I'll see you lot in about an hour. Bye!" And she fled the room heading straight for the lake.

As she burst through the doors she hastily wiped at the stray tear on her cheek hoping Draco wouldn't notice. As she neared the water's edge she saw him waiting just as he said he would. She slowed her pace a little, forcing herself to stay calm and quietly sat down beside him, he was wearing a pair of muggle jeans and a green polo surprisingly. The look suited him she thought.

"That's an interesting choice of clothes Draco." Ginny said in a teasing voice. "I'm surprised you would wear muggle clothing."

"Well I didn't feel like wearing robes today, anyway it's the start of the first official weekend of the Hogwarts school year." He hadn't looked at her yet. "But I see you decided against changing."

Ginny fidgeted a little. "I ran into some people and simply to get away from them I pleaded lateness to a study session. It was probably the only way I could have escaped."

"So I guess you're still mad at the Golden Trio." Ginny didn't say anything. "C'mon, let's walk."

The two of them got up and started to slowly walk around the lake. Draco had his hands in his pocket and his hair was less than immaculate; it looked better that way.

"So spill, what happened that has you so flustered?" Draco asked.

"It's just awkward for me to have them around because I know they're off doing important things and they left me behind." Ginny shrugged vaguely wondering if she should be telling him any of this. "And the whole time I was sitting there talking to Hermione Harry kept sending me those looks that mean 'I need to talk to you.'"

"How do you know that's what those looks mean?"

"When we were dating he would always give me the same look before he had something important to say to me." Ginny looked nostalgic. "Whether it was good news…or bad."

"I see." Draco stopped and looked over the lake at the sunset. "So did you tell them who were 'studying' with?"

"I, uh, I didn't." Ginny looked sheepish. "Do you understand why? I don't want to hurt your feelings, I want to be here, but well, you know how they're like."

'I know. It's okay, you don't have to tell them. I wouldn't want my Mum to know about this either. I think it would probably do her in." Draco chuckled. "It'll be our secret."

Ginny smiled. "Yeah, it'll be our secret."

"Hey." Hermione said when Ginny walked into the Common Room shortly after sundown. "How did the study session go?"

"Hey. It went alright I guess, I mean it's not like it's very difficult to sit there trading facts back and forth and writing an essay with the book right in front of you."

"Well that's good. Harry wants to see you, he told me to have you meet him in the Room of Requirement."

A brief flash of anxiety went through Ginny's eyes then she nodded. "Okay." She turned to go.

"Is it okay if I crash with you and Luna tonight?" Hermione asked.

"Of course! We'll stay up late talking, just like old times." Ginny said truly excited, she had missed her friend even if she did abandon her.

"Good. I'll you see later then." Hermione said brightly and then returned to her book.

Ginny turned and walked into the corridor carefully navigating her way to the Room of Requirement. She got to the tapestry of dancing trolls and stopped, contemplating it's hideousness for a moment. Then she paced back and forth three times thinking _'Take me to where Harry is…'. _A large wooden door appeared and for a moment Ginny seriously considered turning around and running for fear that Harry would be sitting in a candle lit room, sitting on a couch. If that was what truly lay beyond that door she most certainly could not be held responsible for her actions. Author coughs and for a moment is confused by what she just wrote.

Ginny opened the door.

The first thing she saw was the book shelves that went around the whole room from floor to ceiling, which she thought was rather odd. The second thing noticed was the fact that the only furniture was a bunch of large squishy cushions scattered more or less randomly across the floor. The last thing and final thing that caught her attention was Harry James Potter stretched out across several pillows asleep with a book in his hands.

He looked so relaxed and at peace Ginny was simply loathe to wake him. So she quietly closed the door and went over and sat beside him. His glasses were askew and his hair messier than ever. She gently straightened his glasses and lay down beside him thinking about her evening.

**Flash back:**

**Ginny and Draco were sitting by the lake together chatting idly about their lives when Draco suddenly turned to Ginny and sucked in a breath, it sounded quite painful actually. **

"**I **_**really**_** want to kiss you right now," Draco said softly. "But I think we should save that until our next date. I don't think either of us is ready for that kind of contact quite yet."**

**Ginny nodded. "I think you're right." The sun was just about gone and Ginny was thinking she should probably get going. The truth was she really wasn't sure she could go through with anything more than friendship.**

**Draco stood and helped her up. "Then I guess this is goodnight fair maiden."**

**Ginny giggled a little. "Goodnight good sir." She held out her hand, he kissed it giving her a mock bow.**

"**Ravishing does not even begin to describe you. Till tomorrow." He said gallantly and they went their separate ways.**

**End flash back.**

She liked Draco, he was a cool guy to be with apparently. But she loved Harry, who always seemed to be right in front of her and out of reach at the same time. It felt too much like a betrayal to be with Draco, she just couldn't do it. Ginny started to cry the tears she had kept in since seeing Harry that morning. They were gentle sobs that released so much emotion, but they would never be enough. There would always be more to cry.

Eventually she felt Harry sit up and pull her up too, gathering her in his arms. "What's wrong Ginny? Why are you crying?" Harry sounded so concerned and so affectionate. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Don't leave me again!" Ginny cried out burying her head in his chest. "I-I don't want you to get h-hurt and n-never be able to come back."

He tightened his hold on her. "I can't promise that. Please don't try to make me."

"I'm just so angry and sad and I don't even know what else!"

"What do you mean?" Harry loosened his hold a little and looked at her.

Ginny calmed herself and tried to keep her voice from breaking. "I was so angry with you three when you first left because you didn't take me too when I could help and it's not fair that I have to sit around worrying about you. But I'm so sad because, well just because."

"I'm sorry Gin, I really am." Harry stroked her hair. "How can I make it up to you?"

Ginny smiled. "Well…" Then she kissed him.

Hermione was startled awake when someone tried to quietly close the door and failed. The person in question failed because she happened to trip on the doorstep, squeal very loudly, and stumble right into Hermione's lap.

Hermione looked down at Ginny who waved at her while grinning madly. "Hi Hermione." She whispered loudly.

"Uh, hi Ginny." Hermione said. "Do you realize its one o'clock in the morning?"

Ginny put a hand over her mouth. "Is it really that late?" She started to giggle.

"Ginny," Hermione said. "Are you drunk?"

"No!" Ginny looked appalled at the suggestion.

"Shh! Okay then. So I assume you were with Harry this whole time?"

Ginny nodded and giggled some more. Hermione shook her head. "And what did you two do? No, wait, forget it I don't want to know."

"Hermione! Do you honestly think I'd do _that?_ All we did was kiss, I swear."

"Uh-huh, sure. So did you enjoy yourself?" Hermione smiled a little.

"Mmm-hmm." Ginny sat up. "He's a bloody good kisser Hermione."

Hermione held up a hand. "Please, I don't need details. Well I'm glad the two of you made the most of your time together." A snort escaped her.

"Well thank you." Ginny laughed. "So I have to know, what's with you and Ron? Are you two still denying being madly in love?"

Even in the dark Ginny could see Hermione's blush. "Actually, we're uh, well. We're engaged."

Ginny's jaw dropped. "You guys got right to the point! You skipped dating and everything!"

"We want to get married as soon as the war is over, so we didn't want to waste any time. Actually I was hoping you'd be my Maid of Honor?"

Ginny squealed excitedly. "Yes! Oh this is so exciting. I can't wait!"

"Thanks Gin, this means a lot to me." Hermione hugged her. They were silent for a moment, enjoying their mutual happiness when a thought occurred to Ginny.

"Sorry to break the mood, but how goes the search?"

Hermione's smile dropped only to be replaced by a very tired expression. "I suppose you deserve to know."

Ginny nodded.

"We've located Hufflepuff's cup and destroyed it. But that was pure luck. We have a lead on where we might find another, but we can't be sure." Hermione sighed. "What we had to do to get that cup Ginny, it was awful. I've never imagined Voldemort was that evil. It's so hard to keep looking. All I want to do is get married and leave England and forget all about this. But I can't." She sounded haunted, Ginny's heart grew heavier with every word that fell from Hermione's mouth. "It's awful Ginny." Hermione pulled the neck of her night gown down to where her heart would be. In the middle of her milky smooth skin was a torn and ugly burn two inches long. The skin around the edges was puckered and scabbed; the whole thing was slightly indented. It looked fresh.

Ginny gasped. "Oh my god, Hermione how did that happen?"

Hermione smiled grimly. "He demanded impure blood. A Mud blood. So I took the spell, Harry and Ron didn't want me to, but there was no other way. There are worse things that could happen to a person, we have to give up a part of ourselves for every Horcrux. Voldemort wanted to destroy whoever was looking for them little by little. But we have love, and he never did." But tears streamed down her cheeks.

**A/N I depressed myself writing that chapter. What did y'all think? Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Checkmate!" Ginny cried as Ron stared at the chessboard in disbelief.

"I can't believe it! You beat me; I can't believe _you_ beat _me!_" Ron smiled proudly though.

'You're just out of practice that's all." Ginny grinned. "Or maybe I've simply gotten better than you."

"That will never happen." Ron said confidently.

"Actually I think she may be right." Luna drifted over. "That spider on your foot may have been absorbing your chess skills. They do that you know."

Ron screeched (yes he screeched) and jumped up wildly waving his foot around. "Get it off me, get it off me!" Ginny and Luna were laughing hysterically when Harry walked down the stairs into the Common Room.

He gave Ginny a questioning look when she noticed him standing next to her. "He thinks there's a spider on him."

"Ah." Harry grinned. "Chill Ron, there's no spider." It took a few more tries but finally Ron calmed down, by that time Hermione had joined them.

"Dear, please try your hardest to be the male of this couple." Hermione sounded overly patient, she grinned though.

"Oh, bugger off." Ron grumbled. He gave her a look which clearly said he didn't mean it.

"Who wants breakfast?" Ginny asked. She was wearing a clingy, green t-shirt and hip huggers. She had quite grudgingly admitted that 'Yes' she had dressed up for Harry.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Harry offered her his arm. "May I escort you?"

Ginny looked incomparably happy. "Yes, you may." The two walked to the portrait arm in arm not even waiting for the rest of the group.

Hermione sighed sadly. "What's wrong 'Mione?" Ron asked.

"I'm so sad for Ginny. She's so happy when Harry's around, but he always has to leave her. I can't imagine how much that must hurt."

Draco was in the Great Hall early that sunny Saturday morning; he wanted to have some time to think before Ginny got down there. He was sitting at the very end of one of the two tables left in the Hall, so when Ginny did eventually enter he saw her but she did not see him. There she was, that radiant girl with dazzling red hair that made Draco's stomach fall to the floor. But all of a sudden his eyes went cold and angry. Oh yes, there was that Gryffindor girl with _Saint Potter_. There she was hanging on his arm and laughing and looking for all the world as if there was no place she would rather be.

Draco couldn't believe the intensity of his jealousy. He placed a hand over his pocket, imaging that he could feel the letter he had received at the beginning of the year burning a whole through to his hand. The two walked to the other end of the table and sat down. Ginny remained oblivious to his presence but Harry happened to look Draco's way. Draco caught Harry's eye and Harry felt the heat of the glare directed at him. Harry blinked at Draco then turned back to Ginny acting as if he had not just received a silent death threat.

For the next ten minutes Harry continued to ignore the obvious scowls Malfoy kept sending his way. Finally he turned to Ginny and asked, "Hey, come outside with me?"

Ginny looked up. "Sure." She knew she'd do anything for him.

The two walked outside and started walking around the lake. Harry slipped his hand into Ginny's and the two of them kept silent for a few minutes just enjoying the other's company.

"You know I have to leave in a few hours, don't you?" Harry asked sounding miserable.

"I know." Ginny looked at the ground. "It's so hard to think about you leaving again, I almost wish you hadn't come if it didn't mean having to say goodbye again."

"But you were glad to see me right?" Harry took her by the shoulders forcing her to look at him.

"Of course I was Harry, I'll always be glad of any time I get with you." She smiled sadly at him. "You just have to promise you'll come back again."

"I swear it." He had never made a more serious promise in his life.

"Cross your heart and hope to die?"

"Yes, but I'd rather not die so I think I'll keep my word." Harry grinned at Ginny.

"Okay." Ginny smiled back at him. "I like that idea better too."

"You probably won't see me again till Christmas, we're headed for a little island somewhere off the coast where we think Voldemort may have hidden one of the Horcruxes. We've sealed some blood from each of the three of us in vials in case it's needed again. Ron wouldn't be able to take watching Hermione in that pain again." Harry sighed. "Thank you for not following us Gin, it'd kill me if anything ever happened to you."

Ginny hid her resentment behind a carefully controlled expression. "I know. You've said that already."

Harry smiled his beautiful smile that made the whole world seem bright and wonderful. Then he leaned down and kissed her, Ginny couldn't help but melt. She feared he would always have this power over her, the power to take any ill-feelings she had for him and wash them away so easily he didn't even notice. But for that moment, Ginny decided she didn't care.

That afternoon Harry, Ron, and Hermione left; they hadn't the time to linger. Ginny shed a tear or two for their benefit but deep inside she knew it was good they were leaving. It was better for her if Harry left so she wasn't such a slave to her emotions. It had been a private goodbye, down under the beach tree. Ginny thought that no one would see the sigh of relief or hear the words she spoke after the Golden Trio had gone.

"I'm glad he's gone, I don't have to pretend anymore." She was talking about pretending to be okay with not going with Harry, but that isn't what it sounded like to Draco. He'd been sitting a few yards away sheltered from view by a bush; to him her words were an opportunity. He waited about ten minutes before coming out of his hiding place.

"Hey Ginny." Draco tried to sound casual, well as casual as a Slytherin talking to a Gryffindor can sound. "Why aren't you with Saint Potter?"

"Draco." Ginny turned glowing eyes on him, glowing from what he wasn't sure. "They left a few minutes ago, out to save the world again."

"Ah, I see." Draco sat and patted the ground beside him. "So how do you plan to use your time while Lover Boy is away?"

Ginny noticed the jealous under tone in Draco's voice and grinned. "Remember? We broke up last year."

He was silent for a moment then spoke. "I saw his parting kiss; it was quick but hardly what I'd call chaste."

"Do you honestly think I'd tell him to bugger off when he's quite possibly going off to die? I'm not that heartless."

"But I am. If I were you I would wave him off merrily and hope he never came back."

"I think you'd do that even if you weren't me." Ginny smiled a little. "Unfortunately we are not all blessed with such darkness in our souls, my dear Slytherin Prince."

"You underestimate yourself; no one is with out darkness." Draco grinned. "It just needs a bit of coaxing."

"Well for now my darkness can stay buried, surely that's the last thing I need right now. However, it is also true that no one is with out light either. It just needs a bit of coaxing." Ginny winked.

"Pardon me but I have to say that I may have renounced Voldemort but that does not make me one of the good guys. I'm still a 100 percent bad influence." Draco said smugly. "And nothing you can do will change that."

"You're not as bad as you seem and we both know it." Ginny gave him a gentle push which he returned.

But then he sobered and his silver eyes darkened. "Don't think that I'm not still capable of being who I was; don't think for one second that I've forgotten how to be cruel." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Both respected the heaviness of his words for a moment, staying silent. But then Draco spoke up. "Which is why I need a reason not to be cruel, I need someone I won't want to hurt.'

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "And is said person supposed to be me?"

He stood and helped her up. "It's a possibility. Already you've made quite an impression on me." Ginny blushed a little. "Also I quite relish the idea of competing with Potter for the affection of such a beauty as you." He lowered his voice. "You'll have to tell me how I'm doing."

Taking Ginny quite by surprise Draco leaned down and softly grazed his lips against hers, and then he turned and was gone.

"Ginerva Weasly!" Collin pulled Ginny through the portrait hole and into a discreet corner. "Where have you been?!"

Ginny struggled to focus her eyes on her friend. "Why?" She said after a while.

Collin let a strangled sigh escape him. "Because my dearest Ginny you have been missing for an hour and a half and while you were MIA Luna was hit accidentally by some spell and is stuck in the hospital wing! Now what do you have to say for yourself?!"

Ginny was a bit stunned. "I'm sorry, is she okay?"

"She's fine but it'd be nice if you paid her a visit."

"Okay. Let's go. What are you waiting for?" Asked Ginny when she was half through the portrait hole.

"Wait up!" Collin and Ginny made their way to the hospital at a leisurely pace.

"So where were you?" Colin asked again.

"Well, first I was saying goodbye to the Golden Trio but then I ran into Draco and talked to him for awhile." Ginny shifted uncomfortably.

"Uh-huh." Colin gave her a mischievous grin. "Anything _else_?"

"Ummm, maybe one other thing." Ginny quickened her pace.

Colin let the grin slip. "He kissed you didn't he." It wasn't a question.

"Who?" Ginny tried to play it off.

"You know who. Malfoy."

"Oh, him. Uh, yeah." Ginny looked at her feet.

"Ginny." Colin started, stopped, and started again. "Just be careful, we don't know how much of a reformed sinner he actually is."

"I know…I'll be careful, don't worry. I'm a big girl now."

Colin laughed, "I know." When they reached the hospital wing door Colin stopped. "Ginny, she'll be okay, so don't worry about how she looks."

Ginny nodded and opened the door. There was only one bed that was curtained off, and since Luna was no where else to be seen, she had to be in that one.

The red head drew near to the curtain and slowly pulled it back…Sitting in the bed looking absolutely miserable was the most beautiful girl Ginny had ever beheld. She had long, loose, flowing blonde hair, large sparkling grey eyes sad enough to make you weep. Her delicate features formed a face and body that could only be described as that only a goddess could possess. A lilting, musical voice spoke to Ginny. "Ginny! Isn't this horrendous, isn't this just the worst deformity possible?" The great sorrow and anguish expressed in that magical voice caused Ginny's heart to break, but not her sense.

"Luna?!"

"Of course it's me! You must find a way to reverse this; I can't even bear the thought of people seeing me like this!"

"You're kidding me right?" Ginny looked at Luna in disbelief. "Tell me you're joking."

"How could I joke about something like this? Can't you see this awful curse that's been placed on me?!"

"Oh yes because it's such a curse to be beautiful beyond words." Ginny's voice dripped with sarcasm. She glanced behind her at Colin who was trying to avert his eyes but couldn't help ogling at her, an awed expression of reverence upon his face.

"I hate it Ginny. I don't want to look like this." She gave Ginny a pleading look.

Ginny sighed. "Oh, bloody…Look Madame Pomphrey will have you all fixed up in no time." She glanced over Luna's new found beauty and growled in the back of her throat. "Believe me dear, it will be fine."

"Thank you Ginny! I just would hate to have to be seen like this." Luna sounded so grateful and so sincere that Ginny's frustration evaporated.

Collin shifted and coughed from behind Ginny. She turned to look at him as he motioned that it was time to leave. "Well, I suppose I'll see you tomorrow before class. And Luna? Try not to be too depressed." Luna smiled and Ginny left with Colin.

"Ok Colin, you can stop drooling." Ginny said after the door had closed behind them.

"I was not drooling! Either way it was still Luna in there." Colin blushed.

"Uh-huh, than what was that puddle at your feet?" Ginny laughed at her own joke. "Anyway, I know you've had a crush on her for like six months now."

Colin was horrified. "How do you _know _that?!"

"You know I thought it was odd that you kept a journal, but even stranger was the fact that you left it sitting in the Common Room." Ginny drawled.

He continued to gape at her as the blush in his cheeks deepened and spread.

She continued as if she didn't see his expression. "You really should just ask her out, I know she'd say yes, she's liked you for about two months now…Really Colin, make a move!"

"I-I c-can't do th-th-that!"

"And why not?"

"Because she'd say no!"

"Are you deaf as well as stupid? Did I not just say that she likes you?"

"Yes but—"

"But nothing, as soon as she's out of the Hospital Wing ask her out!"

Colin harrumphed and wouldn't speak a word till they reached the common room, the blush never faded from his cheeks.

"What are you playing at Malfoy?"

Draco glanced at Blaise seated by the fire and sat down in the other arm chair.

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked coolly.

"I'm talking about Ginny Weasly, why are you like, dating her?"

"Is it illegal to want to go out with an attractive girl with a pleasant personality?" Draco smirked.

"Attractive? Very. Pleasant? That's debatable. But do I need to remind you Malfoy that last year you would have sooner jumped from the astronomy tower than gone out with her. What changed?"

"Hmmm." Draco smirked again. "I suppose I ought to tell you. But if she ever found out, it would ruin everything."

"In other words, keep my mouth shut."

'That's right."

**A/N And that's all I've got for chapter six but stay tuned for chapitre sept! (Chapter seven)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Chapter seven!**

"Who can tell me what the Feverfew potion does?" Slughorn popped a piece of crystallized pineapple into his mouth. "Anyone? Ah yes, please tell us sir."

"The feverfew potion enhances the senses but at the same time distorts them. If a witch slipped it into a wizard's drink he'd be able to smell her perfume and hear things more clearly, but he would also be seeing her as better than she actually is. She may be pretty but under the potion he'd find her down right irresistible."

"Very good Mr. Malfoy, but is this particular brew labeled as a love potion?"

"Pardon sir, but it isn't." Ginny smirked at Draco and continued. "It only makes the drinker's previous emotions stronger. So while it can act as a kind of love potion, it can also make the wizard hate the woman if he had even the vaguest dislike of her. He'd notice all the things he didn't like about her and they'd seem ten times worse than they really are."

"Excellent Miss Weasly!" Slughorn looked immensely pleased. "It seems you and Mr. Malfoy make a rather competent pair." He grinned mischievously. "Which is why when you've completed your potion tomorrow, it has to mature over night, you will each sample it and demonstrate the effects for the whole class."

At first only silence filled the room while Ginny and Draco stared at their teacher in disbelief. Then slowly giggles penetrated the deafening silence until the giggles turned into all out laughter. Above the noise Slughorn called out that they should all begin to work.

"Is he allowed to do that?" Ginny dragged her eyes over to Draco.

"I guess so." He replied faintly. The two continued to sit in silence for a few moments. "I really hope you don't hate me because if you take that potion…well, things could get ugly."

"This is very bad."

"Yeah, I know." The agonizing pause seemed to last forever as the two contemplated their impending doom. For indeed it was impending and indeed it was very, very, _very_ bad.

"Well." Ginny brushed the front of her skirt and started assembling ingredients. "It's going to be bad but it will be worse if we do it wrong."

Draco snapped out of his stupor and nodded. "You're right of course." A few minutes later he laughed. "If only we weren't such smart asses and someone else had answered, it wouldn't be us this was happening to."

Ginny smiled. "Sometimes it's so hard to be blessed with genius."

They laughed and the rest of the class passed comfortably.

"This is a disaster!" Draco paced in front of the fire while Blaise did his homework.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! Because if Ginny finds out why I'm acting interested in her isn't strictly because I like her, I'm screwed!"

Blaise just grinned. "Calm down, this isn't as big a problem as you think it is."

"It isn't."

"No, it isn't." Blaise set down his quill. "It is true that you are manipulating her." Draco nodded. "But it is also true that you no longer hate her." Again the nod. "So it is true that you are in fact genuinely interested in her as an attractive female." Draco nodded.

"So?"

"So, that means that there's a chance the Feverfew potion will only play up your positive thoughts of her." Draco finally understood, Blaise could see it on his face. "All you have to do is make sure you're focusing on her and her good qualities, not your scheme that concerns her."

"You're brilliant! That's exactly what I have to do." Draco looked much calmer. "This should be easy…"

"Colin."

Colin looked up at Ginny. She was sitting on the floor with her head against the couch looking defeated. "Yeah?"

"What do you think will happen if I take the feverfew potion with Draco's DNA in it?"

"Um, I don't know. You like him right?"

"Well yeah, but I like Harry more."

"You love Harry, you like Malfoy." Colin nodded. "But you know what, Harry's not around so as long as you don't see him while under the potion's influence I think you'll be okay."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine."

Draco and Ginny found themselves awkwardly working side by side over a hot cauldron the next day, patiently awaiting their fate. The first stage of the potion had finished maturing and now only a few steps were required to finish it off.

"Pass the Lace Wings please." Ginny didn't bother to look at Draco as he handed her the requested item. Silence reigned for a few minutes.

"So, are you nervous about the potion?" Draco asked

Ginny scraped the roots she was chopping into the pot. "No, why would I be?"

"I don't know, I was just asking." Draco stirred the pot three times clockwise, and then two times counter clockwise.

"Well, are you nervous?" Ginny quickly glanced at Draco before he responded.

"I'm a little worried about how I'll act under the potion's influence, but I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Oh, okay." They didn't speak at all while they finished working. At length the liquid turned the appropriate shade of dark red and when Slughorn came to check it he was delighted to find that it was absolutely perfect.

"May I have everyone's attention please?" Slughorn addressed the class. "Now if Draco and Ginny would please each take a phial of potion and come to the front of the class, we are ready for the demonstration."

Rather reluctantly they each took a crystal phial and filled it with the warm red liquid. Red for passion, for anger, for blood. Once they reached the front of the classroom they each plucked a strand of hair and added it to their potion, then they switched phials.

'_She's pretty, she's funny, she's really smart, she's interesting, I like talking to her, I like her.' _Draco kept repeating these things in his head as he looked into Ginny's soft brown eyes willing her not to see just how nervous he really was.

'_He makes me laugh, he's dead sexy, he isn't Harry but he's _here_ and he's more exciting, I actually like him.' _Ginny tried to discern an emotion in Draco's gray eyes, but she couldn't see anything.

"Ready?" Draco raised his glass.

"Absolutely." Ginny chinked her glass against his and they both downed it at the same time.

The first thing Draco noticed was that his vision had gone fuzzy. He was just becoming alarmed when all of a sudden everything snapped into sharp focus. All his senses were buzzing with incoming signals. He could smell the most heavenly scent; it was an odd mix of cinnamon, apple blossom, and fresh air. He was very curious as to what was exuding this smell when his eyes fell upon the most gorgeous creature he had ever had the privilege to set eyes on.

She had flaming red hair cascading down her back in shimmering waves, captivating glittery brown eyes, full sensuous lips just slightly parted, and a body to die for. It took Draco a second to realize that the goddess before him was in fact Ginny Weasly.

While Draco was coming to all these startling realizations Ginny was experiencing something a little different. She did find Draco marginally more attractive, but she was having a problem keeping him in focus. Every time she tried to concentrate on him an image of Harry popped into her head. He was on his knees and he was pleading with her not to hurt him. Ginny kept shaking her head to clear the picture.

"Ginny?" Draco asked incredulously. "Wow, you sure do look a lot better than you used to. You're bloody gorgeous in fact; I can barely keep my hands off you." Draco couldn't stop the words pouring from his mouth. "I can't believe I never noticed just how stunning you are, and whatever it is you're wearing, it smells amazing. Wow, oh wow. Do you want to go on a date with me, I mean a real one this time? Do want to go to steady? I'll do anything you ask, please just say yes!"

Ginny stared at him for a moment then broke into a large grin. "Well, I suppose I could go on a date with you. Are you busy tomorrow, tonight? Hmm, this is odd. I'm not sure why I'm so excited about this."

At the beginning of this exchange their classmates just sat in stunned silence, but slowly the laughter started to build. Soon the whole room was in hysterics at the ridiculousness of what was being said.

"I'm free tonight, we could do something." Draco agreed eagerly, he looked like he'd just won the lottery. "That's great, just great. This is amazing, you're amazing. Why, I must be amazing too for managing to get you to agree to go on a date with me!Gee, I can't believe my luck, I can't wait to tell Blaise that everything is—" At just that moment Blaise sprinted to the front of the room and slapped his hand over Draco's mouth.

"I think that's enough, don't you?" Blaise asked Slughorn who wiped a tear from his eye but handed Blaise two antidotes.

"Drink up love birds." Ginny and Draco obediently drank the foul tasting antidote and immediately turned scarlet.

"I can't believe that just happened." Ginny hid her face in her hands.

"I should just kill myself now." Draco looked pleadingly at Blaise.

"Alright you two; why don't you go back to the Common Room or something? I think you deserve to have the rest of the day off." Slughorn pointed to the door and the two best students in the class gratefully slinked out into the corridor.

Ginny couldn't bring herself to look at Draco, it was just too embarrassing. They did however both walk to the front door and go sit beneath the Birch tree by the lake.

She gazed into the blue depths trying to calm her heart; it was practically jumping out of her chest.

Quite some time passed in utter, complete, silence. Finally Draco pulled his eyes up and glanced at Ginny.

"That was pretty bad." He said.

"Yeah, it was." Ginny agreed. They were quiet again for awhile.

"It wasn't all an exaggeration you know." Draco said softly.

"I know." Ginny twiddled her thumbs.

"Well…What do you think of that?"

She raised her eyes to his. "I'm not sure."

"C'mon Gin, under the Feverfew you agreed to go on a date with me again, you wouldn't have done that if you didn't feel something for me."

"Yeah, but I mean, I'm really confused because I'm completely torn. I love Harry, or I used to, oy vey, maybe I still do, but I like you. It feels like I'm betraying them. I'm not sure if I want to do that."

Draco's mind started racing, forming a plan, trying to make this situation work to his advantage. "It wouldn't be a betrayal to go out with me. You and Harry did break up, and they're not around anyways, and technically I'm not one of the bad guys anymore." He carefully controlled his tone and expression, it was imperative that he have complete control over this situation at all times.

Ginny mulled this over. "Give me tonight to think about this. Tomorrow I'll come to your Common Room and I'll have an answer for you."

Draco looked a little discouraged but said, "Okay, I expect good news."

Ginny smiled and left.

**A/N And this is about where the plot thickens. Review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8! I would like to thank all of my lovely reviewers who have been boosting my ego with cries for more! So i thought I'd oblige you, maybe I'll post the next chapter too...**

"Hey Luna." Ginny slumped into a chair in the Hospital Wing next to Luna's bed. Luna was quite saddened by the fact that she was still 'completely deformed'.

"Ginny, I'm so glad you've come for a visit. Colin seems to be very put off by my condition; I haven't seen him since the day before yesterday. I'm very upset about it." Indeed she did look very upset, and her musical voice was quiet and somewhat ashamed.

Ginny didn't bother to respond to that. "I think I'm going to go out with Draco again."

Angelic eyes turned on her. "But I thought that after Harry came you decided to stay with him."

"I thought so too, but he's not here right now. Plus, I want to have a little fun and I think Draco will be great for that. I don't know. I mean, how bad could he be?"

"Headmaster-killer bad?"

Ginny looked at Luna miserably. "I still think I'm going to give him a try."

"Okay. No matter what though, remember that you are better than him."

"I will." Ginny got up, gave Luna a quick hug and left the room. Sitting right outside the door was Colin; he had a rose in his hand.

"Oh my God." Ginny yanked Colin to his feet. "You love sick loser, just go in there, hand her the rose and kiss her. It's not that hard, just do it."

"I want to, believe me I do! I just think that maybe I should wait till she gets back to normal." Colin looked tortured.

"Look, I have something I need to do right now but if you want I'll be back in like ten minutes and I'll see what I can do." Colin nodded and Ginny strode off in the direction of the dungeons.

She walked quickly and was there in less than five minutes, a record considering how temperamental the stairs could be. However as Ginny got closer and closer to the Slytherin common room she realized that she had no way of getting in because she didn't know the password.

Finally she reached the portrait, although she was surprised to see that it was different from what Harry had described to her once. It was now a picture that featured an old man with thin gray hair sitting in a green arm chair. He was absently swirling blood red wine in a large wine glass. Ginny noticed that she could even make out the faded blue of his eyes through his bushy eyebrows.

"Um, hello there," She waved a little to get the man's attention. He startled a little but then saw who was standing there and instantly assumed a bored expression. "I was wondering if you know Draco Malfoy?"

"Yes, I do. Although I can't imagine why a Gryffindor would want to know." He cast a critical glance over her.

"Yes well, I sort of need to speak to him and he said he would be in his common room, but he didn't tell me the password. Is there any way that you could possibly just let me in?"

"Certainly not! Even if you did know the password I'd hesitate to let you in. I'm sure Master Malfoy would not want anything to do with a Gryffindor." The man spat out the last word as if it were the worst of insults.

Ginny decided to give up, she'd see him at dinner anyway. "Fine, tell him that Ginny Weasly wanted him to know that she'd love to go on a date with him."

The man responded only with a gruff harrumph and went back to swirling his wine. She frowned at the portrait and returned to Colin. He was still sitting by the door.

Ginny sighed and walked back into the Hospital and straight to Madame Pomphrey's office.

"Excuse me young lady, but you cannot just walk in here without knocking." Pomphrey was obviously feeling fine.

"I'm sorry ma'am but I was just wondering if Luna will be back to normal anytime soon."

"Ah, yes. Well you see she's perfectly fine and really should go back to classes." She shifted uncomfortably.

"Does that mean she's going to go back to normal?" Ginny asked impatiently.

"No. Actually I'm not sure if she'll ever look exactly the same again. The spell may fade a little so that she isn't quite so…entrancing, but I'm afraid this is rather permanent."

Ginny stood there, her mouth gaping in astonishment. Such a gift could not be wasted on someone less appreciative. "Okay, I'll break the news to her."

As Ginny was walking out of the room she thought she heard Madame Pomphrey snort.

"Hey honey, I have some bad news for you," Ginny had to try very hard to keep all sarcasm out of her tone. "Madame Pomphrey says that it's perfectly fine for you to return to class. So why don't you get dressed and we'll go to dinner."

Luna's face stretched into a wide smile. "Does that mean she's found the cure?"

Ginny shuffled her feet a little, she kept her eyes down. "Well, not exactly."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that there isn't a cure, the spell will fade a little but Luna, you're stuck like this. I'm sorry."

"I see." Ginny quickly looked up to see what Luna's reaction would be. To her surprise Luna looked completely calm. "Very well then, I suppose I'll just have to deal with it. Please wait for me in the corridor."

Ginny nodded her head walked out in a daze. She glanced to the side and was unsurprised to find that Colin had not budged from his spot by the stone floor.

"Get up loser, she's coming out." Ginny all of a sudden found herself very bored with the whole ordeal.

Colin scrambled up and nervously played with the rose he still had in his hands.

The two waited for a few moments, Colin constantly looked at the watch on his wrist and Ginny tapped her foot.

At last the doors opened and Luna walked out of the Infirmary looking quite put out. She sighed and said, "Let's go guys."

_Poor Colin_, Ginny thought, _she hasn't even seen the rose yet. _So the three friends made their way to the Great Hall in silence, it was as if a great tragedy had occurred and they could not speak for their respect of it.

When they reached the Hall Ginny was the last to enter so she was the only one to see Draco wave at her from behind a suit of armor just outside the doors. She quickly nodded and tapped her friends' shoulders. "Hey, I just remembered that I need to go finish an essay for McGonagall, so I'll just leave you two alone." Ginny looked significantly at Colin, "I'm sure you won't mind. Bye!"

With that Ginny dashed back into the hallway and looked around. "I'm over here Ginny." Draco beckoned to her from beside the door to the grounds. "Hey there gorgeous, want to come for a ride?"

"Sure," Ginny smiled at the compliment, "Where are we going?"

"You'll see. It's nothing special, just a cool place to be alone."

"Alone huh?"

"Yeah, are you okay with that?" For a moment Draco looked slightly anxious. "I mean Orin said that you had come looking for me and he mentioned something about a date, but maybe I'm wrong?"

"Of course not. I can't think of a reason why I shouldn't be okay with it." She said as she grabbed his hand. "Come on, let's go."

Draco grinned, "As you wish."

They walked slowly towards the Quidditch Pitch, enjoying the comfortable silence; each wrapped up in their own thoughts. As they neared it, Draco released Ginny's hand and said, "Wait here."

Ginny nodded and watched him jog over to the broom shed and disappear inside. The night air was cool and it felt good to get away from Luna and Colin, neither were very enjoyable company at the moment. The stars were looking particularly brilliant and Ginny vaguely wished she had her telescope with her.

Ginny was quite absorbed in gazing at the stars and so had sort of forgotten why she was out there in the first place. She heard a whoosh behind her then all of a sudden she was hanging in the air. Ginny let out a high pitched shriek before Draco could clap his hand over her mouth and pull her onto the broom.

"Chill out Ginny, it's just me." Ginny gently pushed his hand down.

"Sorry about that, you startled me."

"Well, at least I'm not predictable yet." Draco laughed and slid one arm around Ginny's waist. "Here we go!"

Draco pulled the broom up and they sped into the sky getting higher and higher until he finally leveled out and pointed in the direction of the castle. "Where are going?" Ginny asked for the second time.

"Why, to the roof of course. There's no better place for star gazing." Draco leaned his head forward a little so his lips were right next to her ear. "And there's no better place to be alone."

Ginny shivered slightly then composed herself before responding. "Alright lover-boy this is a first date, so keep in mind that I plan to be on constant watch. I wouldn't want you getting any ideas."

"Ideas? You mean something like this?" He lightly kissed the skin right below her ear.

"Yes like that!" Ginny giggled a little while trying to pretend to be stern. "You should be concentrating on your driving young man, I wouldn't be happy if you crashed us through a window."

"Don't worry about it, I'm an expert flyer. Anyway, we're here." He landed them on a flat section of the roof that Ginny suspected wasn't a public part of the castle. She slid off the broom and walked around a little on the small shingled platform.

The two of them were about seventy feet off the ground, and the nearest window at this height was twenty feet away on the side of a tower. A brief inspection of the perimeter told her that the only ledges were ten feet down and didn't protrude very far from the walls. Ginny and Draco were truly alone, and the only way off was his broom.

"So what do you think?" Ginny whirled around at the sound of Draco's voice. He was standing a few feet away with his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world like a nervous teenage boy on a first date. She wasn't about to be completely fooled.

"It's really cool," she said and casually stepped a little to the side. "You really know how to find secluded places, huh?"

"Yeah, I do." Draco was giving her a look that clearly challenged her to say that she thought he was up to something.

Ginny watched him take off his cloak and lay it on the shingles and sit down, he glanced up at her and patted the spot next to him. She considered the situation for a moment and then went and sat beside him anyway.

A few moments passed in silence and then Ginny shifted a little so that she was facing him more directly.

"So why did you _really _ask me to come up here with you?" Ginny kept her expression neutral as she waited for him to answer.

Draco made a noise somewhere between a laugh and an offended snort. "What, I can't ask a girl I like to come on a date with me?"

"Maybe I'm not completely convinced of your conversion yet."

"Maybe you don't have to be."

"What does that even mean?" Ginny was a little thrown by his answer.

"We've been over this, I'm not a good guy, but I'm not a bad guy either. You don't have to be convinced of my conversion yet because if that ever actually happens it will probably be due to you. If we stay friends or boyfriend/girlfriend or whatever, it could happen." Draco looked a bit embarrassed

"Okay, I'll accept that."

"Does that mean you'll relax now? You're so tense it's practically radiating off of you."

Ginny laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Alright then," he put his arm around her and pointed to a cluster of stars. "Now, may I direct your attention to a little thing called the Horse Head Nebula?"

The two of them spent the next few hours sitting and looking at stars and talking about everything that came to mind. Well, almost everything.

"Hey Draco?" Ginny turned to look at him.

"Yeah?" He barely got out that one syllable before Ginny's lips were on his. When he realized that she had in fact just initiated something he wouldn't have dared to that night, he responded by pulling her closer and deepening the kiss.

Ginny's stomach was doing flips but she kept thinking the same thing over and over again: Take that Harry.

A few minutes later they broke apart and Draco looked down at her. "I think I should get you back to your Dorm."

"I think you're right." Draco stood and helped Ginny up, pausing to brush the hair out of her eyes and then he mounted the broom and pulled her up in front of him. They flew back to the Quidditch Pitch and he stored the broom back in the shed.

They walked back to the castle hand in hand and up to the seventh floor in front of several portraits near the Fat Lady.

"Thank you Draco, I had a great time." Ginny's cheeks were a tad pinker than usual and her eyes were dancing.

"I did too, I'm glad you agreed to come out with me. You wouldn't happen to be interested in a second date sometime soon, would you?"

"I think I could deal with that." Ginny smiled coyly. "I suppose this is good night then."

"I suppose it is." Draco kissed Ginny softly before whispering goodnight in her ear and walking back down the stairs.

He heard her murmur a password and continued on his way to the Slytherin Common Room, reflecting on what was definitely a successful date.

He smirked. "Everything's coming together, I've got her now."

**A/N Hey y'all, what are you thinking?**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Colin?" Colin looked up at Luna and then quickly looked slightly over her shoulder.

"Yeah?" He gulped.

"What do you think of Ginny dating Draco?" Luna asked quietly.

"Oh," Colin felt he was safe to glance at her again, and regretted it. "Well, I don't know, it's been like almost two months now right? I've gotten used to it, she seems happy. What makes you ask?"

"I'm worried, Christmas is right around the corner, and I'm pretty sure that Harry is going to be visiting the Burrow. Think how awful it would be for Harry if he found out."

"Ginny's a clever girl, if she doesn't want Harry to know then he won't. I'm more worried about what seeing Harry is going to do to _her._" Colin snuck another careful glance at Luna. She seemed to be thinking hard about what he'd said.

"Hmm, yeah, she's dealing with dangerous stuff here. I wouldn't be surprised if she totally crashes when she sees Harry and ends up breaking both their hearts."

"But not Draco's?"

"I'm not sure how torn up he's going to be," Luna caught Colin's eye and neither looked away. "He plays the attentive, love-struck boyfriend but sometimes when he doesn't think anyone's looking, I catch him with this horrible, calculating look on his face."

"Everyone knows that he still isn't on our side; that he's neutral." Colin was concentrating very hard on staying focused on the conversation.

"I don't believe there is such a thing as neutral. If he's not on our side then he's definitely still in league with the Death Eaters."

"They tried to kill him, remember?"

"Maybe he's trying to get back in their good graces." Luna finally looked away from Colin and into the fireplace.

"By dating Ginny? Luna, I think that would be more likely to make them hate him more."

"Maybe you're right; but I still don't trust him."

"Well I trust _her_, and whatever he decides to throw at her she'll be able to handle."

Luna turned her big blue eyes on him and held his attention for a moment. "Okay."

"So what are you doing for Christmas Vacation?" Ginny and Draco were sitting on one of the big green couches in the Slytherin Common Room while they were doing homework.

"I know what you're doing," Draco said. "You're going back to the Burrow and you're going to open lots of presents and wrestle with your brothers and try to outwit the twins without any luck."

She laughed. "You've got it down pretty well."

"Yup, I've got you all figured out by now. You're completely predictable." He smirked at her.

"That's what you think," she threw a pillow at his head playfully. "I'll make you eat those words."

"The day that happens I'll snap my wand in half."

"I look forward to it." Ginny smiled at him and went back to her essay. "You didn't answer me, are you staying here for Christmas?"

"Geez you're hard to distract," _lies, all lies,_ he thought. "Yes I'm staying here all by myself with only the Bloody Barron for company."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Said an outraged voice from somewhere near the ceiling.

"Nothing, sorry Roger!" Draco laughed.

"Maybe I'll come back a day or two early and come to see you."

"I'd like that."

Ginny put her essay down on the table and laid back on the couch to rest her head on Draco's lap.

"Man I'm tired." She rubbed her eyes and yawned. "This Charms' assignment is killing me."

"I hope not, I'll have to have a word with Flitwick if I find out he's attempting to kill my girlfriend with homework." He stroked her hair.

Ginny giggled and closed her eyes, she decided to take a nap right there and then. "Don't worry about it, I'll be fine…"

A few minutes later she was asleep and Draco stayed put looking at her peaceful, trusting face.

A scoff from behind him startled Draco. He turned his head and saw Blaise standing there with an amused look on his face.

"Isn't it great that you get such fabulous perks from setting up a betrayal for the Dark Lord? Most people who get an assignment like that end up being tortured or killed, but you, you get a pretty girlfriend out of it." Blaise grinned cheekily.

"Jealous Blaise, or just feeling lonely?" Draco had slid out from under Ginny and placed her head on the couch and was now standing in front of Blaise.

"Oh no, just pointing out how _lucky_ you are," he continued to grin. "And anyway, I'm seeing someone."

"Really, and who might that be?"

"Now that is a secret, but you know all about those don't you?"

On the other side of the couch Ginny wasn't completely asleep and was gaining the sense that she probably wasn't supposed to be hearing this conversation.

"Would you shut up?!"

"Shh, you wouldn't want to wake up the Weaslette, I mean _Ginny-kins, _now would you?"

Ginny closed her eyes again and silently thought to herself '_Weaslette?!' _

"Blaise, now is not the time to display what an asshole you can be." Draco was angry now and he had his wand in his hand.

"Fine, but I did want to tell you that I'm impressed at how well this is going. I hadn't expected you to get her to trust you."

Draco relaxed and grinned. "I know right. I have to say though that I'm worried about what's going to happen if she sees Potter any time soon. If that idiot finds out she's been seeing me the whole plan could fall apart. He'd never trust her again and then everything would be ruined."

Ginny couldn't believe what she was hearing, what on earth was he talking about?!

"It'll be fine, she'll never tell him." Blaise frowned. "How are you going to convince her to help you?"

Draco thought for a moment. "I don't know. I'm kind of hoping it will just fall into place, and if not I'll have to come up with something really clever."

His friend nodded. "Do you still have His letter?"

"It never leaves my person." Draco affirmed.

"Well, I have to go meet someone, so I'll see you later."

"Okay." Ginny was so confused and she was getting angrier by the moment, but she knew that she had to keep her mouth shut until she worked out what was going on.

When Blaise was at the portrait he stopped and turned. "Draco, try not to fall too in love with this girl, we both know what will happen if you do."

"Don't worry about it; I know what I'm doing." His eyes were instantly guarded with an icy wall.

"Yeah right, she's already got you completely crazy about her. I don't want to know what the Dark Lord will do if he finds out." With that Blaise stepped out into the corridor.

Draco stood a moment pondering that and then went back to the couch to find Ginny still sound asleep, or at least that's what it looked like. He couldn't help but notice how lovely her red hair looked flared out over the emerald velvet. He carefully lay down beside her and wrapped his arms around her waist, soon he too was asleep.

**A/N Who's excited for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows? I'm completely freaking out, but that could just be me…Review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Later that night Ginny excused herself from dinner and promised to meet Draco back in his Common Room in about an hour. She said she had something to care of.

As soon as she had made it to an obscure bathroom on the third floor she promptly made her way to a stall and slammed the wall with her fist.

"He's using me! For Merlin's sake, that slimy git is _using _me! What does he think he's doing? _What_ is he doing?" Ginny walked to a mirror and looked at her stricken expression. There was rage written in her every feature, but there was pain in her eyes.

"Okay, stop and think, stop and think." She spent a moment remembering the conversation she had overheard. "Alright. He doesn't want Harry to find out because it would ruin the whole plan. What plan? It must have to do with Harry; and Voldemort because they know he knows about it…But Draco said he isn't on Voldemort's side anymore. Ahhh!"

She screeched in frustration and kept herself from smashing the mirror in front of her. Back and forth she paced willing a spark of intuition to come to her. She could hear the faucet dripping and her foot steps tapping, they were practically in sync with her heart thumping away relentlessly. Over and over again she thought '_not again, I won't let another boy betray me like this, not again!'_

"So he lied, you knew that he might. You promised everyone that you would watch him, that you would be careful. Well, here you are, practically spying on your boyfriend who you thought you could trust. I can't believe he'd do this! This whole thing, he must have been engineering it from the very beginning. He's been manipulating me and distracting me and now he's using me!"

Ginny slumped against a wall. "Oh God, I'm so stupid I can't believe I fell for this." She closed here eyes. "Draco has a letter, Blaise asked him about a letter." She thought about that for a moment. "He doesn't want me to know about this, whatever it is. Maybe if I find out what he's doing while still making him think I trust him and love him, I can make this turn around and backfire on him."

"I just can't believe I let myself care about him this much when he obviously doesn't care at all," she said bitterly. "Perks, yup, what a perk. Malfoy gets to fool around with me while getting ready to do…to do…I don't even know! Something horrible, awful."

"I have to get that letter."

"Bezoar." Ginny said to the portrait of the old man with the wineglass. He still looked down at her and sniffed snootily when she approached him, as if he had the mind to forbid her to ever come back.

"Oh just open you stupid painting, you're bound by ancient magic, just get it over with." Ginny was feeling a little snappy and decided she needed to loose that quickly.

"Humph, never in my life have I met such an impudent little girl." But even as he said it he swung open so Ginny quelled her retort and stepped through.

She looked about and didn't see Draco, but Blaise was sitting by the fire with a book in his hands. Ginny was comfortable with Blaise being around because it seemed that where ever Draco was, Blaise could be found nearby. His dark bronze skin looked like burnished gold in the fire light and she vaguely wondered if he was reading about dark magic.

He never paid her much mind, except to respond when she spoke to him and sometimes she'd catch him looking at her with the strangest expressions, but that was it. It was almost like he didn't even know who she was.

"Hey Blaise," she said trying to sound cheerful. "Seen Draco?"

Blaise looked up at her and resisted a smirk as he always did, then he looked back at his book. "He's upstairs in his room, it's the first door on the left."

"I know, thanks."

"Yup."

Ginny tried not to scowl as at him as she passed and headed for the stairs. There were two sets of stairs like in the Gryffindor tower but there was only one floor of rooms. Ginny assumed that the boys had each chosen a room they liked and moved in, the rest of the dorms were empty.

She climbed the stone steps and reached the heavy oak door on the left. It was thick and silver inlay set in intricate patterns over the wood gave it an air of importance and stability. She knocked softly and waited while she heard some shuffling noises and a moment later the door opened.

Draco was still in his uniform but his tie was missing and his sleeves were rolled up revealing the subtle musculature of his lower arms. Ginny mentally beat down her first thought, yummy.

"Gin, I'm glad you're here, you got everything that you needed to do done?" He was smiling broadly and took her hand as they walked over to a small love seat set up in the corner.

"Yeah I did actually. It was nothing big; I just had to return some books to the Library and stuff like that." Ginny slowly relaxed into their usual routine and decided to pretend like everything was normal for now. Until she found out exactly what he was up to she would give him the benefit of the doubt. She was watching every move he made however.

Draco's room was spacious. He apparently had spent quite a bit of time rearranging it and moving furniture in and out until it suited him. He had a few ornate little carpets scattered over the stone floor, there was a big sherry wood desk in one corner, the brocade love seat they were sitting on, the big four poster bed that was always immaculately made with green satin, and oddly enough a muggle television which he claimed was under a spell that made it work without electricity.

That was another thing about Draco that surprised her; he had tons of muggle things. The T.V., of course his clothes, but also he had these tiny machines that were apparently games, an electric lamp, a muggle alarm clock, and muggle photos. She never asked him about it but she wondered about it every time she was in his room. Wasn't he one of those people that hated Muggles and everything about them? It seemed he was an anomaly unto his self.

Sometimes he turned on the T.V. and they watched old movies, this was one of those times. Ginny was relieved when he did that night because she really didn't feel like talking about anything, she didn't trust herself.

"Come on." Draco had stood up and tugged her up with him. They moved onto the bed and stretched out, Ginny instantly became wary. She'd only sat on his bed once and he had been sitting at the desk, but again she decided to just let it play out. She was going to fool him so well he'd only be even more convinced of her devotion to him.

There was a black and white film playing called Casa Blanca, Ginny thought it odd that some shows were colored and others weren't. Couldn't the Muggles figure out how to keep the colors fresh?

About twenty minutes into the movie Draco turned and propped himself up so his face was above hers. He hadn't put gel in hair since they started going out so the platinum strands were cutely mussed and sometimes fell into his face.

"I wanted to tell you something earlier today but you fell asleep and I didn't want to wake you." He said.

"Oh? And what might that be?" Ginny desperately cleared her mind of any mutinous thoughts and tried to focus on what she liked about Draco, not whatever evil scheming he was up to.

He sat up and pulled her up with him so he could look at her better. "You know, Blaise warned me about this a thousand times and I never listened to him. He always told me to watch my step and I didn't. I've completely fallen for you Ginny."

Ginny was struck silent; she searched his face for any sign of insincerity but couldn't find it. She did notice that he hadn't actually said he loved her; and she was glad.

She opened her mouth to say something but he placed a finger over her lips. "You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know."

She nodded and tried to marshal her chaotic thoughts into some sort of order. It was so unexpected, and she thought that he might have gone for a more planned out moment since he was evidently trying to manipulate her into something. Instead it was a simple whim that was more convincing than any candlelit room or seductive setting. She was surprised, just as she had been since that first day on the train.

Draco grinned and softly kissed her, placing his hand behind her neck and leaning back on the bed. In the last month the two had broken down a lot of the barriers couples go through, but Ginny still had rules, and Draco respected them.

On a normal night, Ginny might have let things go by this point, she certainly knew that Draco wanted her too; but on that particular evening, she just wasn't in the mood. She pulled away and smiled at him, but sat up against the head board and tried to watch the movie again. He looked at her with a puzzled frown for a moment but then he sat next to her and slipped his arm around her waist and she leaned against his shoulder.

The movie was a cute love story that made Ginny remember some of the things she'd done with Harry and then something flashed into her mind. An image of Harry clouded her vision. He was kneeling on the ground in front of her. His face was scratched, his hair was filthy and his robes were torn and speckled with blood. She could practically hear his voice over the dialogue in the film.

"Ginny, don't do it! Oh God Gin, please don't hurt me!" He was pleading with her, begging her. "Please don't do this." He sounded so afraid; she couldn't understand why he was so afraid.

The vision disappeared and Ginny gasped in horror and realized that she was crying. Draco glanced over but then instantly gave her his full attention.

"Ginny? Ginny what's wrong?" He brushed away some of her tears. "Why are you crying?" Draco was feeling a little panicked; did all girls do this sort of thing? What had he done wrong?

Ginny shook her head and hastily swiped at her eyes trying to get rid of the traitorous water. "Nothing, oh I'm sorry, it's really nothing. I, um, I," Ginny racked her brain for a good excuse and said the first thing that came to mind. "I got my period this morning, I'm completely unstable right now, you know PMS. I'm sorry Draco."

"Ah, okay." Draco nodded and put his arm around her again, letting it slide. The situation was entirely plausible seeing how last time she had her period Draco had watched her get in a fight with Colin over something totally ridiculous and end up throwing books at his head, screaming at the top of her lungs. He was completely willing to just humor her whenever her bloody friend came to pay a visit. Self interest and preservation was a fundamental part of Draco's personality.

When Ginny got back to her dorm that night she found Luna still awake. She was sitting on Ginny's bed reading a copy of _The Quibbler_. The spell hadn't worn off much except that now Ginny didn't find herself completely spellbound every time Luna opened her mouth.

"Hey Luna, you're up late." Ginny said and collapsed at the end of her bed.

"Hey Ginny, you're _back_ late." Luna replied.

"Touché." She was debating whether or not to Luna what she had found out.

"I won't be surprised when you just stay the night there and don't come back to find me waiting for you." Luna was still staring quite intently at the magazine.

Ginny looked up at her. "Are you mad at me?"

"A little Ginny." Luna finally tossed down her magazine.

"Why?" Ginny was surprised. She was pretty sure she hadn't said anything offensive and she had been splitting her time rather evenly between Draco and her friends.

"Because I know that you're going to go home tomorrow and lie your ass off to everyone." She sounded agitated. "I understand wanting to get back at Harry, but what good does it do for you date someone _behind his back_? If you really wanted to get back at him you would have invited Draco to the Burrow and flaunted him all over the place."

"Luna I—" Ginny tried to protest but Luna cut her off.

"No, just stop and listen okay? I know you like him, but I also know that you're ashamed of it. If you try and convince your family, and Harry, that you aren't up to something and that you're totally fine you're going to lose it. Because guess what Ginny, you're not fine, not remotely."

"So what, do you want me to break up with him?" Ginny asked quietly.

"No, I want you to tell the bloody truth! If you're not going to tell Harry that you're seeing someone and you aren't going to tell Draco that you're using him, then yes, dump him. You've already been hurt; you're setting yourself up to get hurt again."

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this now? You haven't before."

"Honestly? I don't trust Draco, I never have. I didn't actually think that this would turn into a long term relationship."

Ginny was taken aback by this sudden attack, but she wasn't upset about it. She supposed she'd have to tell Luna what had happened.

"I didn't either, and anyway your misgivings were well placed. You think I'm using Draco, he's using me." Luna looked unsurprised. "Oh, don't give me that look! You were right, and I suck. Happy?"

Instead of answering to that she asked, "What's he doing?"

"I don't know, it has something to do with Harry and Voldemort but other than that I didn't really hear anything. I overheard Draco and Blaise fighting about me and whatever this plan is, they thought I was asleep." She described the conversation to Luna.

"So you're going to chuck him."

"No." Ginny looked helplessly at her friend. "Whatever he's up to, I'm the only one that can stop it. Isn't it ironic that now I'm trying to protect Harry when before I was trying to get back at him?"

"Yeah it is." Luna didn't seem to be any calmer then she had been a few moments earlier. "How are you going to do it?"

"First I have to find out what his plan his, so I have to get whatever that letter is that he was talking about. Then I'll go from there, but for now I'll have to play it by ear." She sighed and crossed her legs.

Luna flopped back onto the pillows and put her hands over her eyes. "So are you okay?"

Ginny laughed mirthlessly. "No, I don't think I am."

**A/N And the story is finally getting somewhere! Yay! Review pretty please!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

"You're pathetic."

"I am not!"

"Colin, if you weren't pathetic you would have asked her out by now." Ginny and Colin were sitting on the Hogwarts Express waiting for Luna to come back from the Loo, and Ginny had decided they needed to have a serious discussion.

"That's not true! I just, wanted to give her time to get over her accident." His face was turning a rather interesting shade of pink.

"Oh for God's sake, she was hit by a beauty charm! It's not like she fell off the astronomy tower and has a horrible deformity. Just bloody ask her out, I'm going to go find Draco; I'll see you in a bit." Ginny walked out of the compartment before Colin could protest and he was left sitting with an unhappy look painted on his face.

His head snapped up when he heard the door open again and saw Luna sit across from him. He could barely keep his eyes off her, or his thoughts.

"Hello again." Luna smiled at him dreamily.

"Hey Luna." He replied, feeling miserable.

The silence was a little awkward, but only because Colin felt it should be, there was no way to tell how Luna felt about it. It stretched, first for one minute, then two, until a full five agonizing minutes had passed.

"Are you okay Colin?" Luna's lilting voice was concerned.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Colin loosened his tie a little.

"If you're sure." She pushed a piece of hair behind her ears.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Had his voice just squeaked? _'Okay, you can do this Colin, you can. It isn't that hard, just say you like her, just say it. Oh for God's sake DO something Colin!' _His thoughts were frantic, he was sure sweat was dripping down his face, he was so nervous.

Colin got up and walked to the window, it was a sunny day for once, and the landscape flashing by had a golden tint. He took a few deep breaths; this wasn't a big deal, not at all. He turned around.

Before he even had a chance to say anything Luna had stood up and was standing right in front of him. Her sudden proximity stole his breath away, and he felt his throat tighten in response to feeling her on his face. She had fixed her large, stormy eyes on his blue ones, hers were worried.

Something inside Colin clicked. "Luna, I would like to tell you something." The formal sound of his words inwardly made him flinch.

"Hmm, that's odd; I was going to say much the same thing. Perhaps there's a Demiguise in here, new research has said that they have mind control powers as well as the ability to become invisible. Anyway, you go first."

Colin felt himself grinning as he listened to her familiar rambling, it was so irresistibly Luna-ish.

"Umm, well, I didn't know if you knew but I thought maybe I'd just let you know that I, uh, really…Well I really l-like you." He was close to hyperventilating and fighting desperately to appear calm and confident and not like he was about to pass out.

Luna's smile broadened. "There's most definitely a Demiguise in here, I wanted to tell you the same."

"Really?" Outside, if Colin had bothered to look, the landscape was slowing and the train station was coming into view signaling that he had about a minute and a half to get his trunk and get off the train.

"Really." Luna leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "I have to go though, my trunk somehow has disappeared. I'll see you in two weeks Colin, but please write." She smiled at him again and turned to go out the door. "Oh, and I did know you liked me, Ginny left your journal on her bed and it happened to be open."

Colin's jaw had dropped in horror to which Luna simply laughed and left.

As the train pulled into Platform 9 and ¾ Ginny found herself desperately trying to convince Draco to say goodbye to her on the train and not the platform. She had caught a glimpse of Hermione's hair through the window.

"Really Draco, I'm sorry but I'm still not ready for my family to know."

"Ginny, we've been going out for over two months; don't you think we should tell them?" Draco looked hurt and Ginny wondered if he actually was. She was still pretending to be crazy about him so he had no idea she knew what he was planning.

He also didn't know that she had slipped the letter out of his pocket five minutes ago.

"Not yet, please?" She pleaded.

Draco sighed but nodded. "Alright then. These two weeks are going to be torture without Gin, I'll write you every day."

Ginny smiled and reached up to kiss him lightly. "Same here. It won't be so bad, and a little time away will just make seeing you again all that much better."

He smiled with genuine happiness it seemed, Ginny hadn't seen him smirking at anyone in a long time, unless he was teasing her.

"Till we meet again then." He kissed her again and let her leave, watching her red hair swing back and forth as she walked away.

Blaise predictably stepped in at just that moment. "You really are in love with her aren't you?"

Draco looked at him. "The Dark Lord comes first." A frown settled over his features. "But yeah, I think I do."

"I warned you." Blaise smirked. "I loved your little bit about wanting to tell her family, very convincing."

"I know, it was a brilliant little idea that went off perfectly. After the holidays I'm going to have to get serious though. If this is going to work I have to bring her around to our way of thinking."

"I'm always watching, waiting to step in if I have to you know."

"I'm aware of that. The Dark Lord does think of everything, when this succeeds though, he'll never doubt me again."

"Ginny!" As soon as Ginny had located her family Hermione had rushed forward and enveloped her in tight hug.

"Hermione, it's so good to see you." She replied hugging her back even tighter. "I really missed you these past few months."

"We missed you too." Ron got her next and then she awkwardly gave Harry a quick hug and rushed to her mother's side.

"Shall we go then?" Ginny wanted to get off the Platform before anyone noticed the Trio and said something about the events of the past few months. For the biggest subject of gossip lately had been the scandalous relationship between the youngest Weasly and Slytherin's own prince, and everyone had an opinion on how the Golden Trio was taking it. Apparently Hogwarts' students had all assumed that they knew.

"Sure, the Ministry cars are waiting just outside in the parking lot."

When they had reached the Burrow Ginny felt a great load fall off her shoulders as she walked in the door and smelled the familiar scents of home. She breathed deeply and pointed herself in the direction of the stairs to put her trunk away.

"I've got it." Harry whipped out his wand and levitated it up the stairs, soon disappearing form view. She felt stricken, and suddenly her load returned and gained a few pounds, she was going to have to lie everyone now, not just the Trio but Draco too, and she hated to do it.

She caught Hermione looking at her and quickly wiped her expression of emotion, she had become rather good at that from watching Draco.

When Harry returned, Ginny forced herself to look at him properly. His hair was messy as usual and he still wore glasses and his scar still peeked out at her endearingly. She wanted to look away, to not notice how his shoulders were slumped and how weary his eyes seemed, as if he was too tired to stand. Never the less he caught her eye and smiled in a way that made her want to break down and cry right there, that smile was obviously his first since he had left her under the Beech tree those few months ago.

Mrs. Weasly bustled them all into the kitchen and insisted that they have a cup of tea and some biscuits after traveling all day. When they had sat and were happily sipping tea and in Ron's case wolfing down biscuits, Mrs. Weasly beamed at them.

"I'm so glad to have all of you back home and safe again, I've been worried sick ever since you left and not a moment has gone by when I wasn't thinking of you lot. I even added Harry and Hermione onto the clock."

Ron just grinned, Harry and Hermione however looked stunned and then had an enthusiastic conversation with Molly about how happy they were to be considered part of the family and so on. Ginny nearly screamed; so it was back to this then. Her mum was going to be completely absorbed in those three and Ginny would be an after thought. Of course.

A few minutes later Molly spoke again. "Did you know that Ginny's taking all seventh year classes now? She'll even be taking the N.E.W.T.S. at the end of term! Arthur and I are exceedingly proud of her."

Ginny almost fell out of her chair.

"You didn't tell us! Ginny this is great; you could have at least hinted that you were on the same level as us." Hermione was grinning.

"Yeah Gin, you should have said something." Ron tugged on a piece of her hair.

"I well, I guess I sort of forgot." Ginny replied lamely.

"Forgot? I don't how you could have forgotten something as important as that." Ron took another sip of tea.

"There's just been so much going on, I suppose I didn't think it was important." She resolutely stared into her tea, not wanting to look at any of them.

"So how is Hogwarts Ginny? There weren't too many students when we visited; I was surprised by some who were there though." Harry said.

"What do you mean Harry? I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary." Hermione asked.

"So you didn't see Malfoy then." He said grimly.

"Malfoy's there? Who in their right mind would let him come back?!" Ron looked furious. "Ginny's been in classes with that murderer all year?"

Ginny was panicking, she had so hoped that this wouldn't come up. Her mind was racing; if they knew he was there surely Harry was going to be suspicious that she hadn't mentioned it. Sure enough that question came next.

"Why didn't you say anything Ginny?" Mrs. Weasly looked worried.

"I didn't think it was important, so I just never thought to tell you." She mumbled.

"It seems there's a lot you don't think is important." Harry was looking at her with a puzzled expression. Ginny became very angry all of a sudden, why did they think they had the right to interrogate her? She stood up and slammed her chair back.

"Look, you don't tell me every thing, you never have! So why should I have to give you a complete and detailed summary of my life? Well I don't have to and I don't think you need to know every little thing that I know or do. Just back off okay!" She glared at each of them and then stomped up the stairs.

Everyone at the table was stunned into silence for a moment. Then the quiet was broken.

"What's gotten into her?" Ron asked incredulously.

"I have no idea." Harry replied. They both looked at Hermione.

"I do." She got up and followed Ginny to her room. Hermione hesitated outside Ginny's door, but then she knocked.

"Go away," came the muffled response.

"No, open this door this instant Ginerva Weasly, we need to talk." Hermione waited for a few moments before opening the door herself and walking in. The angry red head was stretched across her bed staring at the ceiling. She didn't even glance at Hermione as she walked in.

"What do you want?"

"Well, mostly an explanation, but I think you aren't going to give me one, so I'll do the talking." Hermione said, Ginny merely snorted.

"I've been thinking Gin, and I know you're mad at us, more importantly you're furious with Harry and you have been since that day in Diagon Alley. You haven't let that though, you haven't said a word. So I think you're doing something else with your anger. I don't know what you're playing at, but you kept a few secrets about who's in school and what classes you're taking. That isn't a big deal, but I think you're keeping something bigger from us, something that could mean life or death eventually." Hermione's eyes were flashing as she accused Ginny.

"You think so?" Ginny's voice was contemptuous.

"Yeah, I do."

"Well you're wrong Miss Granger, for once, you are wrong." She stood and faced Hermione head on. "Even if you were right, I wouldn't break down and tell you just because you guessed that I was keeping a secret. I'm stronger than you think."

"I'm not questioning your strength."

"Then what are you questioning?"

"Your loyalty." Hermione said coldly.

Ginny just stared at her for a moment. How close she had come to the truth, how amazingly near she was to figuring out that Ginny was betraying everyone. She was so close, but she didn't want to believe it. Ginny decided to use that against her.

"Just because I'm angry doesn't mean I would be disloyal to you guys. I'm sorry you don't trust me Hermione, but I've always known that since you don't think you can trust me, I can't trust you."

Hermione could only stand there; she didn't know what to say. "You can leave now." Ginny pointed to the door. She turned, glanced back at Ginny's cold eyes, and left.

A few minutes later Ginny remembered that she had Draco's letter in her pocket. She glanced at the door, and then sat on her window seat to catch some light. She pulled out the letter, and looked at the broken seal. It was black, and the wax had been stamped with a skull and snake. Slowly, she opened it.

_Draco,_

_I would like to offer you my condolences for the loss of your father in that horrible accident a few weeks ago. What were the chances that his particular cell in Azakaban would be hit by a bolt of lightning in such a short storm? Truly, it was terribly unfortunate. However, as we both know, accidents happen. _

_This fact, after much thought, has let me come to the decision to let you right your mistake last year in failing to kill Dumbledore. That too was an unfortunate accident. So I'm granting you a second chance. _

_As I'm sure you've become aware, the final battle between Potter and I is coming close. I will not allow that sniveling half-blood traitor to defeat me. Do not doubt that I could beat him without any help, for what is he compared to my greatness and power? I do believe in insurance though, and it is well known that his friends are more insurance than we have previously believed. _

_So here is where you come in. Potter has one vital weakness, and you are going to help me exploit it. He is quite in love with Miss Ginny Weasly, it is up to you to turn her against him and bring her to our side. It will be quite easy to use her to distract Potter at the crucial moment; it will provide the perfect opportunity to bring him down with the least amount of effort possible. _

_She must not know what you are doing at first, you must appear friendly, remorseful even of your previous ways. You will befriend her, and if necessary make her fall in love with you if that's what it takes to convince her that she wants Potter dead. Do what you have to, and remember that secrecy is of the utmost importance._

_I will not tolerate another failure._

_Your Master, Lord Voldemort_

**A/N I think I'll leave you here for now, review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 Tomorrow the book comes out and no one will have time for fanficiton because thy will all be too busy reading the long awaited, crazed after Deathly Hollows. I won't get to read it for like another week and a half for rather ridiculous reasons so i won't be updating for another week and none of you may utter a word to me how the book was, only that it was amazing. So to all of you HP fans ENJOY!!!! **

Malfoy Manor was, at first glance, a lavish and beautiful place. There was a sort of refined elegance about it that gave the impression of both money and taste, the gardens were not extravagant nor were the furnishings and decorations inside. It seemed to a wholly pleasant place. Except for the empty, cold feeling that seemed to permeate the place.

It wasn't truly empty of course; two people and several house elves still inhabited the place, it would be ridiculous for a house of that size to be empty. So ridiculous as to be rather wasteful. This was the home of one Draco Malfoy and all of these things occurred to him as he sat by the fire in the Slytherin common room. He could just picture his mother, sitting by herself with a book in her hand that she wouldn't be able to concentrate on. With her blonde hair in tangles, her eyes blood shot, and her lips cracked it was quite obvious that Narcissa Malfoy felt she had nothing to live for.

Her husband had wasted his life in the service of a cruel man who had twisted his mind and made him the worse for it. He was malicious, and vindictive and keen take to take out his anger on his family. Horrible as living with him had been however, Narcissa had still loved him and hated Voldemort for taking him away from her. Now that same man was for the second time trying to take her son as well.

If Draco were to meet the same end as Lucious, she knew the only thing she would be able to do, is kill herself. Then, with that final victory over her family, Voldemort would leave them alone.

Over at the Burrow, Ginny had found her self in a fury. She dropped Lord Voldemort's letter as if it were on fire and bit down on her tongue to keep a shriek of rage from alerting her family. She quickly picked the letter up, rolled it into a scroll once more, and stuffed it into a jewelry box and placed it behind her mirror. She sat down on her bed and gazed out the window, deep in thought.

That's what Draco was using her for; he wanted her to betray Harry to Voldemort. Everything he had done was carefully calculated, thought out and planned. Every word, every smile, scowl and step had all been a ruse to make her believe that he had renounced Voldemort and was truly interested in her. Even his dark hints that he hadn't forgotten cruelty were said to make his story all that more credible.

He was ordered to seduce her, to turn her against the boy she really loved and bring him to his death. Draco didn't love her, he never had, for all she knew he wasn't even capable of love. Blaise was wrong, he wasn't crazy about her, and he was just using her to further himself.

Ginny identified her feelings with two rather poignant moments, the first was the anger she had experienced when she first realized Draco was using her and the second was the sadness when Harry had left her in Diagon Alley. It was almost too much to handle, but then an idea came to her. She rummaged around in her trunk for a bit and came out with a quill and parchment.

_Dear Draco,_

_I miss you already; the Golden Trio is driving me crazy. That infuriating Potter is giving me those significant looks again and Hermione just asked me why I'm snubbing Harry. I told her I wasn't and that I just wanted some space, honestly, it's getting harder and harder for me to trust them recently. Well, anyway, it is nice to be home and see my room again, it must be horrible to be stuck at Hogwarts all by yourself, I hope this letter brings you a bit of cheer. _

_I hope to hear from you soon!_

_Love, Ginny_

Ginny rolled her short note up and tied it with a green ribbon that she often wore in her hair; Draco had said he liked it. Then she composed her face into something she hoped was remorseful and made her way back to the kitchen. From the way a hush descended upon the room she could tell that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been talking about her, Mrs. Weasly wasn't there.

She cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "Um, I spent a bit of time thinking and I just wanted to apologize for yelling at you all, especially you Hermione. I guess I'm still a little stressed from all the work I've been doing for school."

Ron looked a little suspicious but Harry and Hermione smiled at her and said it was no big deal, as long as she wasn't really mad at them. Ginny gritted her teeth and told them she wasn't. Truth was, she was mad at everyone.

"I just need to send this letter and then how about we play exploding snap or something?" The three nodded amiably and chatted idly while Ginny strapped the scroll to Pigwideon's leg and whispered to bring it to Draco Malfoy at Hogwarts. He chirped at her and flew out the window.

Later that night, after dinner the small group sat in the family room and tossed a ball between them, talking of nothing in particular.

Ginny looked around at her friends and wished that things had turned out differently. They were hurt, she was hurt, it seemed like nothing would ever be the same as it was before the Trio set out to find the Horcruxes. They were grown up now, for goodness sake Ron and Hermione were engaged, after all that hesitation and bickering and denial they just up and got engaged.

She almost envied them, they were together constantly and they didn't have to worry about all those uncertainties of dating, and they didn't have to deal with being lied to, used, or left by each other. If they got separated it would be by force, not because of some noble, high ended notions.

Ginny looked side ways at Harry, he was himself for the moment. Light hearted, cheerful, strong, he was everything she wanted. He met her eye and smiled in an easy way, it was the smile he only gave her. He jerked his head in the direction of Ron and Hermione who were holding hands and whispering to each other and lifted his eyebrows at her. Ginny did the same and they both laughed.

Harry stood and reached for her hand. "Come on; let's go out to the swing."

"Okay." She took his hand and they put on their coats and made their way through the snowy yard to the swing by the lake. Harry cleared the snow off the bench swing and they sat down looking up the clear winter sky.

"It's good to see you again." Harry said quietly beside her.

"It's good to see you too."

"So how about Ron and Hermione?" He sounded amused.

"I figured it would happen eventually, just I thought they'd do the weird dating your best friend thing first. But no, they just skipped to the important bit." Ginny thought for a moment. "I'm glad they did, they're so obviously made for each other."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. They plan to tell the whole family on Christmas day, Ron even bought a diamond without her knowing and when they make the announcement he's going to give it to her."

"That's unusually well planned out for him." Ginny commented.

"That's because he had help." Harry grinned at her when she laughed.

"And when exactly did you turn into Mr. Romantic? I mean, don't get me wrong, but you're not always the smoothest guy when it comes to that." _Draco is,_ the thought came unbidden to her mind and she almost grimaced.

"Well, occasionally I get lucky." He shrugged but continued to grin happily.

Ginny stood up and pushed some snow around with her feet as she did a little twirl. "I guess it's bound to happen sometimes." She ran out of sight for a moment and all of a sudden a snow ball smashed into Harry's chest.

"Hey! I'll get you for that Miss weasly!" He called out and gathered some snow into a ball and set off in search of Ginny. A second ball hit the back of his head and he whirled around to find Ginny laughing at him and raising another snowball to throw at him. Before she could however Harry had run up to her slapped his snowball onto the top of her head and was sprinting the other way before she could blink.

"Like I'll let you get away with that!" And the two spent almost an hour running about the yard attacking and countering, laughing all the while.

The next day Draco was eating breakfast at a table with a small Hufflepuff girl who was supposed to be leaving in an hour to go see her Dad in Paris. Draco was about to get up and go to the library when a tiny owl flew down and held his leg out for Draco to take a scroll tied with a green ribbon.

He instantly recognized the ribbon as Ginny's and took the scroll while giving the owl his piece of toast; he hastily made his way to the library and sat at table in the corner.

He untied the ribbon and put it in his pocket for safe keeping, and read Ginny's letter. He was pleased to find that she was growing more distant with Potter and felt a certain sense of security that maybe the plan would work out and he'd still get to keep Ginny when everything was over. Also, the Trio was making his job much easier without any sort of prodding.

A little later when he was back in his common room he wrote a reply.

_Fairest Gin, (and I don't mean that I've recently become an alcoholic)_

_I'm sorry to hear that you're not having much fun. But I do have to say that I'm rather glad I've no reason to worry about you giving into Potter. Remember that it's okay to be mad at them, they deserve it. _

_Things aren't bad here, I get the Dorms all to myself and I basically have free reign to do whatever I want. I've decided to catch up on some reading and try not to let my brain turn to mush over the next two weeks. It'd be better if you were here though. _

_Write me again, for it really did bring me an extra bit of cheer to hear from you._

_Forever yours, Draco_

_P.S. The ribbon was a nice touch._

Ginny received this reply tied with her green ribbon and oddly enough, sealed of at both ends. She snuck away to her room to read it and discovered when she opened it why it was sealed. A little waterfall of red rose petals fell gracefully to the floor when she had unfurled it. Some part of her smiled, while another cringed. She was pleased to see that he had taken her bait and she was confident she could keep everyone fooled, much as it pained her to do it. The only thing that buoyed her was thought that in the end it would all be for the greater good, that it when it came down to it she was going to save innocent lives.

Christmas morning dawned bright and early. Ginny awoke to find a stocking at the end of her bed and an owl outside her window bearing a small package. She let the owl in, took the present, and sent him off with an owl treat. She saw the gift was from Draco and stowed it under pillow to open later.

Just as she was reaching for her stocking, Ron, Hermione, and Harry all apparated onto her bed, causing her to scream quite loudly and scowl at them all before smiling.

"Happy Christmas! They chimed at her and she was assaulted by confetti out of Christmas poppers.

"Happy Christmas guys, you sure are morning people aren't you?" Ginny said.

"Not me, but Hermione came in and dumped some water over my head." Ron grinned fondly at his fiancé.

"Harry helped, he was the one who told me that Ron had failed to get out of bed," Hermione added. "On Christmas too, I could hardly believe it!"

After Ginny had emptied her stocking the four friends made their way downstairs to greet the rest of the Weasly's who had already arrived. At half past seven everyone had made it to the family room where a large tree surrounded by heaps of presents waited. The gifts from Fred and George were easy to distinguish by their bright, spangled purple wrapping.

It was the usual chaotic affair that went down every year, papers were thrown pell-mell about the room, everyone had to shout their thanks above the noise and random outbreaks of wrestling kept occurring when one of the brothers was exceptionally pleased with something they had gotten.

After about an hour of this things started to quiet down and Ginny had opened all the presents that were addressed to her, oddly enough she hadn't gotten one form Harry. He however had loved the golden snitch she had gotten for him. Ginny was actually quite pleased with the little winged ball she had gotten off of Madam Hooch, apparently the school had bought a new said of Quidditch balls over the summer (which was rather odd considering that no one was playing this year).

Around lunch time the Weasly's and their friends sat down at the table to enjoy Mrs. Weasly's splendid turkey. Before they could begin however Ron stood up and called for everyone's attention.

When the room was silent he cleared his throat and said, "Um, well, how do I say this? Well, uh, Hermione and I have an announcement to make."

Mrs. Weasly let out a little gasp and the twins shared a knowing look, but no one said a word. Ron cleared his throat again and pulled a little black box out of his pocket. He opened it and revealed a sparkling little diamond set in a silver band, he took Hermione's hand so she stood up beside him and slid the ring onto her finger, her other hand was over her mouth.

"We're engaged." Immediately there was uproar of awws, and congratulations, and Molly got up and squeezed the two of them rather tightly with tears streaming down her cheeks and saying how happy she was and she knew this would happen all along.

The rest of the day passed happily and Ginny was just about to plead how tired she was so she could go up to bed when Harry pulled her into the dark kitchen and asked her to sit.

"What's all this about Harry? I'd rather not stay up tonight, I'm exhausted." He was pacing back and forth and she was wondering what the matter was.

He came and sat on the table in front of her so he was facing her. "I wanted to give you your Christmas present."

"Alright, why now though, why not this morning?"

"Well, because it's rather personal." He blushed a little. _'Oh God if he asks me to marry him I'll kill myself right here, I cannot deal with this!'_

He took a small black box out of his pocket and Ginny was reminded horribly of the scene Ron and Hermione had played out earlier that day. He silently passed it to her.

Ginny took it and opened it, holding her breath the whole time. She pulled a gold ring out that had ruby framed on either side by little golden six pointed stars, it was beautiful.

"It's a promise ring, just a reminder that I promised to come back. As long as you wear you'll know that I'm coming back and that I love you." Harry peeked at her through his fringe of hair to see her expression. Ginny wordlessly put the ring on and smiled at him; she leaned forward and kissed him softly.

"Good night Harry, thank you." Then she went upstairs and went to bed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

She was again walking through a hazy meadow; the air was thick with pollen and expectations. Her red hair floated about in wisps of air that whispered through the grasses. She found herself sitting by a pool of the loveliest blue water she had ever seen, but she was not looking at the pool. No, instead she was gazing longingly at a black staff with a red orb sitting malevolently on top of it, but she found she couldn't move any closer to it, something was stopping her…

"Ginny get up! Everyone's downstairs already, even Harry and Ron! If you don't hurry you won't get breakfast before we leave for the train." Hermione was shaking Ginny's shoulders to wake her, and Ginny was experiencing the oddest deja-vu.

"Alright, I'm getting up; let me change for goodness sake!" Ginny snapped sleepily and pulled herself upright and watched her friend shake her head before going downstairs again.

A few minutes later Ginny was dressed and had brushed her hair and was almost ready to go downstairs. She decided to make her bed for good measure and was surprised when a small package fell off from beneath her pillow. She knelt down and picked it up, and a deep sense of shame swept through her, it was Draco's gift, and she still hadn't opened it.

Ginny glanced at the door and hesitated a little before she unwrapped the package. Inside was a simple silver chain with three small emeralds hanging off one another. A slip of paper was also inside and all it said was _'A declaration'_.

A declaration of what? Ginny didn't have time to ponder this though as she was expected in the kitchen. Instead of putting the necklace on she wrapped it back up and dropped it into her purse then hurried downstairs.

After several goodbyes and hugs Ginny eventually made her way onto the train and found Luna and Colin sitting in a compartment, holding hands. She let out a little squeal.

"It's about bloody time! Finally, I don't have to watch you pine away day after day, I was about ready to lock the two of you in a dark room and not let you out till Colin owned up to his crush and…" Luna and Colin were looking at her as if they thought she needed to be thrown in the loony bin with Lockhart. "Well…never mind."

Colin was smiling tolerantly, Luna looked similar. "Oh no, you two are not allowed to give me the Luna Look! I did not say anything even remotely worthy of the _Luna Look!_" Ginny said incredulously, which only made her friends laugh.

Ginny made an unhappy noise and sat down, resolutely glaring at the new couple. "Well I don't suppose I need to bother asking how your vacations were, I can see the result right in front of me. "

"You could say that." Luna smiled. "So why don't you tell us how yours was."

Ginny considered all the odd things that had happened and decided that, it was okay. "It was fine, but there's something you guys should know. I found out what Draco's really up to. You see, right before I left him I managed to pull this out of his robes." She pulled out the letter and handed it to Colin, Luna read it over his shoulder.

When they looked up at Ginny their faces had lost all signs of amusement, in fact, they were rather grim.

"Well, that explains a lot." Colin said.

"Ginny you didn't happen to look at this with Spectrspecs did you? There may be more to the message that Voldemort didn't want any one to see." Luna asked with all seriousness.

"Umm, well, that didn't occur to me." Ginny tried to keep her face impassive. "But that's why I'm so glad to have your help. You never know what I might miss." Her voice was a little strained.

"So what can we do?" Colin asked.

"For now? Nothing, all you can do is pretend nothing ever happened, and let me keep him in the dark. He's trying to play me, well I'm in the game now and he'll never know what hit him when I turn against him."

"You're going to stay with him?!" Luna looked scandalized.

"Yes, I'm going to stay with him and make him think that I'm on his side and that he completely owns my heart. Which he doesn't," she coyly held up her hand with Harry's ring on it. "Harry has that honor unfortunately."

Colin smiled. "Well at least we know the good guy really does get the girl."

"So, you're going to be our little actress from now on," Luna was thoughtful. "You know you're going to have to make it seem like you're completely into the relationship, you can't really give him a reason to suspect that you want to end it."

"Yeah, so?" Ginny asked.

"You're going to be cheating on Harry."

"Yeah, I will be, but hopefully I'll also be saving his life." Ginny pulled Draco's necklace out of her pocket and put it on. "Let the games begin."

"Ginny." Ginny jumped a little and whipped around, she let out a breath when she saw who had addressed her.

"Blaise." Ginny replied. "How was your holiday?"

"Fine, not particularly interesting. Yours?" He had that noncommittal expression she had begun to associate with herself; he never looked like that around anyone else.

"Okay I suppose, rather hectic, I have a pretty big family."

"Yes, I've heard." Blaise didn't even twitch. "Draco said that if I saw you to ask you to meet him in the Common Room. Apparently he's been lost without you." His last comment was in parting and it practically blew away it was so dry.

"Uh, thanks." She doubted that he heard her; he was already halfway down the corridor. Ginny dismissed her annoyance and headed down to the dungeons, it was where she was going anyway. She fiddled with the chain around her neck and wondered if she ought to take off her ring. No, she'd lie; there was no way Ginny was going to give fate a chance to screw with Harry's promise, even if she was going to be cheating on him.

She made her way to the dungeons and stood outside the entrance for a moment, gathering her courage. She had the same feeling she'd had the morning she got the letter from Draco with the rose petals in it. A part of Ginny was repulsed by Draco, and another part of her wasn't. Well, she supposed she'd just have to play up the non-grossed out half of her personality.

"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to give me the password already?" The man with the wine glass was glaring at her impatiently.

"What?" Ginny was pulled out of her reverie. "Uh, sure. Basilisk."

The portrait swung open and Ginny was chilled by the simultaneous memory of the Chamber and the thought that maybe she wouldn't be able to pull off her deception. She tried to push both out of her mind before stepping into the common room. She barely had any time to take in the sight of the now familiar room before she found herself wrapped in a tight hug.

"Hey Draco," Ginny laughed a little as she hugged him back. "Miss me much?"

Draco let go and seemed a tad embarrassed that he had lost control of his actions like that, but smiled broadly at her nonetheless.

"Only a little," he said jokingly. He spent a moment just looking at her and then his eyes fell on her necklace. "I see you're wearing my gift." He looked pleased.

"Of course I am, it's beautiful, thank you." Ginny kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm glad you like it. I love the scarf you gave me by the way, green and gold, very thoughtful."

"I know, I'm just good like that."

"Yeah, you really are." Draco took her hand and they sat on the floor with their backs against the couch.

"How was your vacation?" Ginny asked.

"Just fine actually, but I was nearly crazy with missing you. Your letters were a blessing." He said, wrapping a piece of her hair around his finger. "How was yours?"

"Okay, it could have been worse. Fred and George bewitched my ceiling to snow on me every time I entered the room, so I had a bit of a cold for awhile but apart from that it was pretty good."

"Glad to hear it." Both of them steered clear of the Golden Trio subject, neither wanting to bring in any awkwardness.

They chatted for awhile about nothing important and finally Draco stood and helped Ginny up. "Want to go down to dinner?"

"Sure."

They were just about to enter the Great Hall when Blaise came up behind them asked to speak to Draco alone. Ginny nodded that it was okay and went into the hall by herself while he walked in the opposite direction with Blaise.

"What do you need?" Draco asked once they were out of ear shot of fellow students.

"Over break I got a message from Voldemort saying to watch you. He doesn't want another screw up and he's not sure the plan is moving fast enough. So I'd really like to know if you've had any brain waves on how exactly you're going to get her to betray Potter. If not, we have a serious problem."

"Chill out Zabini, I thought long and hard about this over break, very soon she's going to be receiving a letter from Saint Potter explaining about his new girlfriend, that he's sorry and he hopes they can still be friends. The reason he can be with his new fling is because she's helping them do whatever it is they're doing in ways that Ginny never could." Draco paused to see if what he had said was sinking in.

"Okay, go on."

"Well, she's going to be pissed and who better to turn to than me, and of course I'll tell her the perfect way to get back at him, to betray him like he betrayed her. All of this will go smoothly with the right atmosphere and probably a little alcohol. Nothing could be simpler."

Blaise thought about it for a moment. "Simple may not be the right word but it might work. The only problem is Potter's hand writing, she's bound to recognize a forgery."

"I have a sample of his writing, with just one spell I can have the whole thing written exactly as if the words really flowed from his hand and his heart." Draco smirked at his friend who only nodded and smirked back. Inwardly Draco regretted that he was going to hurt Ginny, but all the better for him right?

He left Blaise and found his red head beauty sitting with Colin and Luna who he had pretty much learned to tolerate by then.

"Hey hun, we were just discussing holding a big party in the Room of Requirement to blow off some steam. What do you think?" Ginny took a sip from her pumpkin juice while he answered.

"That actually sounds like a pretty good idea, who's invited?" He piled chicken wings and rice onto his plate.

"Well, it's obviously going to be inter-house, but we thought we'd limit it to fourth years and up. That way we won't have to watch any little preteens." Colin said.

"Yeah, and the kitchen elves will pretty much give us whatever food and drinks we want," Luna added on.

"And the room will take care of the rest." Ginny finished.

"Great, everything's taken care of then. When do we want to do it?" Draco was calculating how he could make this coincide with his scheme, if the timing was right this party could be the catalyst he needed. He glanced around and saw Luna switching her gaze between him and Ginny in a rather intense scrutiny.

"Probably next weekend, that gives us enough time to spread the word and convince the elves to cough up some fire whiskey." Ginny said, breaking him out his thoughts.

"Cool, I can't wait. It should be a good way to just have some fun since there hasn't been any Quidditch this year." He replied.

Colin grinned. "See, I told you he'd see the same connection between the party and the lack of Quidditch, it makes perfect sense."

"It was Colin's idea to have the party in the first place because apparently he thinks it can compensate." Luna said.

"Well obviously," Draco said. "Anyone could see that."

"Men," Ginny said to Luna. "They think sports control the universe."

"In some cases, they do control it my dear."

Ginny just smiled at him. "Whatever you say Draco."

**A/N Sorry for the long wait, I was out of town for a week and then I read the Harry Potter book and then I left again and I just got back like two days ago, so life has been hectic. I feel sort of bad about continuing to write this now that I know how everything really goes, but I figure I might as well finished what I started. By the way, I thought the book was absolutely amazing, the epilogue made me feel all bubbly and warm inside, it was perfect! **

**Review pretty please and let me know how I'm doing with this sory!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**A/N Hey there all my lovely reviewers, I'm trying to write as much as I can to make up for my long absence, even if I do feel a bit pointless after reading the great work of J.K. Rowling, may we all aspire to be half as brilliant as she. Anyway, here's chappy 14.**

"Winky, please won't you do this for me?" Ginny was down in the kitchen checking on the final list of food and drinks before the party the next day. "It's just a few bottles, and no one under the age of sixteen will be able to get their hands on it."

"I'm sorry missus," Winky said in her squeaky little voice. "I just don't know if that's a good idea."

"Winky, it's just this once, and we'd really appreciate it." Draco added. "Can't you do this for us, for me Winky?"

The tiny house elf was starting to break down under the combined efforts of Ginny's reasoning and Draco's charm. "I'm not sure…"

"Please?" Draco knelt down and gave her his best smile. "Just for this party and we'll never ask again."

"Oh, fine, fine, I'll send them up with everything else." She looked abashedly at the ground and shuffled away as Ginny and Draco called thank you after her.

Ginny was grinning at boyfriend. "_Please Winky, for me?"_ She said in imitation of him. "You better not ever try that kind of crap on me Mister, because _I_ won't buy it."

"Oh yeah?" He raised his eyebrows in skepticism. "We'll see about that. You know, I can be very persuasive when I want to be."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his forehead against hers. "Really? I suppose I'll just have to take your word for it. But I'll have you know that as persuasive as you are, I can be just as stubborn."

"Hmm, a challenge. I like a good challenge."

"Yup that's me, although I wish you the best of luck because I think I hold much more power over you than you think, therefore I could persuade _you_ to cease your fruitless attempts at persuasion." Ginny started to lean forward as if she was going to kiss him, and he had leaned forward too, when at the last minute she spun out of his arms causing him to stumble forward.

Ginny was laughing. "Told you, I hold the true power."

Draco straightened up with his hand in his pocket and smirked at her. She had just started to ask what he was smirking about when she heard a loud bang and found herself hanging upside down by the ankle. As her robe and skirts fell over her head she screamed as in surprise and outrage.

"Draco! Put me down this instant! You can see my knickers like this, put me down!" Ginny yelled at him, trying to flip her skirt back up in vain.

Draco laughed and with another bang she fell and he caught her, placing her gently on her feet. She immediately stepped away from him and brushed off her clothes to straighten some of the wrinkles.

"That was not funny Malfoy!"

"Ooh, ouch, you're using my last name again huh?" Draco didn't look very sorry to Ginny. "And didn't you ever think I did that _because _I wanted to see your knickers?"

She decided to ignore his last comment and said instead, "Yes I'm using your last name again and I will continue to unless you apologize." She gave him her best glare.

"Fine, fine." He got down on his knees and clasped his hands. "Ginny Weasly, I am so so sorry for casting a spell on you that allowed me to see your knickers as pay back for your taunts. I don't how you can ever forgive me, for I am an insensitive pig, but let me say that it would mean the world to me if you would. So please Gin, accept my apology?" He had widened his eyes and stuck out his bottom lip.

Ginny was doing her best to keep a stern expression but pulled him up anyway. "I think you're full of crap but I'll forgive you for now."

"Oh! Praise Merlin that this goddess has chosen to bestow her mercy on me!" He switched his gaze to her, looking serious. "I am not worthy, fair one, thank you."

"Oh, shut up already before I take it back." She couldn't help laughing though.

They left the kitchen hand in hand and were heading towards the Slytherin common room. It was after dinner so most students were already in their dorms, studying or talking or sleeping. The few students still traveling the corridors were either couples seeking privacy or individuals trying to get to unknown destinations.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence Draco chuckled.

"What? What's so funny?" Ginny asked.

"Oh nothing. It's just I liked the tattoo on your leg, it suits you." Draco looked down at Ginny only to see that her cheeks were flaming red which made him laugh harder.

"Shut up, you weren't even supposed to see that." She was mentally cursing her famous Weasly blush.

"I'm serious though, I like it. It's extremely sexy."

"Well I suppose that's a good thing." She could feel some of the blood leaving her cheeks. "Although that's not the reason I got it."

"No? What then would make you decide that you wanted to get a tattoo in such a personal place?" They were nearly to the common room, Draco could see the entrance.

"Well I got the tattoo as a sort of rebellion against my mother; the placing was so that she wouldn't see it. Lame I know, but just because it was to spite her didn't mean she had to know about it."

"It seems to me that you are a girl that likes secrets." Draco said as they came up to the portrait. "Basilisk."

Once they were inside and comfortably seated in Draco's room Ginny asked, "What do you mean I like secrets?"

He held up his hand and counted off. "Well there's the tattoo obviously, then there's the whole dating me behind Potter's back thing, and you never told Luna that Colin liked her. I'm sure there's more but those three seem like the big ones."

"Well, it's not that I like them, I just, I don't know, sometimes think that they're necessary. The tattoo wasn't, but the other two…" She dropped off, trying to gauge Draco's reaction. He didn't seem to have any response actually; his face was still thoughtful and didn't betray any other emotion.

All of a sudden his eyes snapped into focus. "Ginny, I didn't ask you before because I didn't want to upset you, but did you see Potter over break?"

Ginny was taken aback and quickly tried to formulate a good answer. She knew that this was the perfect opportunity to convince him that she could be swayed to treachery, that he could bring her around to the dark side.

"Yes Draco, I did." He only nodded, waiting for her to elaborate. She took a deep breath and continued. "He was there, and, well I suppose I shouldn't lie to you." She looked at Draco with a pained expression.

"No I'd really appreciate the truth." He coaxed.

"Alright, this is what happened. He pulled me aside one night and asked if he could speak to me privately. He told me that he had done a lot of thinking and that he was very sorry, but," Ginny closed her eyes as if the retelling was somehow distressing. Really she was coming up with the most convincing lie she could on such short notice."But he doesn't love me anymore and he asked that I never bring up that he had ever again. He said he found s—some—someone else."

She kept her eyes squeezed shut, but no tears fell. When she opened them to look at Draco he saw only vague regret in them. In turn Ginny could see that he was pleasantly surprised and trying not to show it.

"So," he said after a moment. "I don't have to worry about his competition anymore then?"

Ginny nodded. _'He ate that up. I had no idea I was so good at this sort of thing.' _

"I told you he was a wanker." Ginny had the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. "And now I know he's even more of a moron than I originally thought. He should know that no one could even measure up to half the girl you are." He said. _'This is perfect, that idiot has done the work for me. I guess that letter won't be necessary.' _

"That's sweet of you." She awarded him with a small smile.

"It's true."

"Thank you." She looked off into the distance as if remembering something from long ago. "I only wish that, well never mind, it's silly."

"No, what do want? If there's anything I can do all you have to do is the say the word." Draco offered.

"It's nice of you to offer, but there really isn't anything you can do now." Ginny said sadly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well if I had wanted to have revenge earlier all I would have had to do was tell him that I was dating you, but now he won't care. So really there's nothing you can do." Ginny looked at him helplessly and shrugged. "But never mind that, let's not talk about Harry anymore, it'll put me in a bad mood."

Draco nodded, carefully storing this conversation in memory for future reference. "Okay."

They spent the rest of the night in a relaxed way and eventually Ginny claimed that she was about to fall asleep and so should go off to bed. "Good night Draco, I'll see you in the morning."

"Night Gin." He replied. Once she was gone and he felt safe enough to pull out the letter he had forged earlier that day he walked to his desk and burned it.

"No need for that now. Very soon I'll be able to finish this job and maybe when it's all over I can ask her…well I'll have to see how she feels after he's gone. I shouldn't get ahead of myself." He shook his head. "I hate doing this to her."

He glanced around his room before getting into his pajamas and going to sleep.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The next morning Ginny was at breakfast early, so when an owl landed in front of her bearing a scroll there weren't many people around to see.

"It's probably from mum." She muttered to herself while unfurling the letter. She was startled to see Harry's messy scrawl gracing the page.

_Dear Ginny, _

_I know it's only been a week since I last saw you, and technically I shouldn't even be sending letters out but I have to tell you something. _

_Very soon something bad is going to happen at the castle, I can't say how I know here, but I do. We have reason to believe that Malfoy and Zabini are involved so I'm begging you to be extra careful around them. Warn the other D.A. members to be on their guard; just in case something does go down I don't want you to be by yourself._

_Things are coming to a head Gin, be ready for anything. I love you; I hope I'll see you soon. _

_Love Harry_

_P.S. Don't respond to this._

"Hey, who's the letter from?" Ginny nearly fell out of her seat she was so surprised to hear Draco's voice from behind her. She hastily rolled it up again and put it in her bag.

"Oh, it was just from mum, she wanted to know if she should send me more underwear, which is really an embarrassing question when you think about it. I mean why would she ask me something like that? Doesn't she think I can handle that sort of thing on my own by now?" Ginny rambled.

"That's really not something I can answer so I guess I'll leave that to Luna." Draco said, blushing slightly. "Luna, take it from here." He then turned to Colin and began discussing the current Quidditch scores.

A few minutes later Luna looked up and said, "So who's excited for the party tonight?"

"I know I am." Colin replied enthusiastically.

"Mmm, me too. I have no idea what I'm going to wear though…" Ginny said. "Luna we need to have a clothes conference right away, this is very important."

She nodded gravely. "Absolutely, do you think I should wear my gurdy root earrings?"

Both Colin and Draco discreetly looked at each other and Draco mouthed "Your problem, not mine."

Colin grinned and rolled his eyes.

"I think you should wear those pretty gold spirals, you know, the ones with the stars on the end." Ginny said.

"Yes, I think I will. Those are nice, and I haven't worn them since Slughorn's Christmas party last year."

"Perfect then." Ginny turned to Colin. "Did you send out all the invitations?"

"Yup, and I've heard some really good feedback. Tons of people are talking about it." He looked very proud of himself.

"This is going to be great, I can't wait." Ginny said.

After breakfast Luna and Ginny went up to their room to pick out outfits and the boys went their separate ways. Draco went back to his common room and decided to play a game of Wizard's Chess with Blaise.

As they were setting up the board Blaise asked if Draco had sent the fake letter to Ginny.

"Actually it turns out that there wasn't any need to. Potter did the work for us; he really does have another girlfriend. Apparently he broke it to Ginny during vacation." Draco said cheerily. "She's really upset, she said she wished there was a way she could get back at him"

"Well, you know what they say." Blaise said. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And it she has been seriously scorned by Potter."

Draco thought about that for a moment. "When you say 'they' who are you talking about because I've never heard that in my life."

"I don't know, some dead poet, he might have been a muggle. My mum said it once, after her third husband died I think."

"Ah, okay then." Draco let out a whoop of triumph. "I have just captured your queen!"

"Yeah but you haven't won yet so don't get too excited."

A few moves later Blaise had Draco in check. "I hate you." Draco grumbled s he tried to save his king.

"So do you think we can use her desire for vengeance as the key to turning her?" Blaise asked.

"Yeah actually I do, I mean she's halfway there already simply by going out with me." Draco smirked. "Gryffindor's sweet heart is fraternizing with the Slytherin prince, people are still talking about it."

"Don't let it got to your head or anything like that; you wouldn't want to inflate your ego now would you?" Blaised said sarcastically.

"What? It's true."

"Whatever. I don't care how you do this, just get it done, I don't want to be the one to tell the Dark Lord that his master plan is going to fail.

"Me neither." He moved one of his pieces. "Checkmate."

**A/N Hey there. This is what we authors like to call a fill chapter. When a filler chapter is written it is because I need to reestablish some things I've already talked about and get past my writers block. Anywho, please review, the next chapter will be the party, which should be important but we'll see if I'm able to think up something that would make it significant…**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N Now onto chapter fifteen, it's nice and long so enjoy!**

**Chapter 15**

"Do you think girls make you wait for them on purpose?" Colin asked Draco. The two were standing in the Gryffindor common room waiting for their dates to come down stairs so they could go to the party.

"I don't know. They had all day to prepare; you'd think that they'd be ready by now." Draco looked at his watch yet again. "We've been standing here for like fifteen minutes."

"Maybe they've lost track of time while doing, well while doing whatever it is that girls do to go to a party." Colin guessed.

Draco snorted. "Not likely. I think your first idea was probably spot on. It must be some female design to make us fall for them; like delayed gratification or some nonsense like that."

"Yeah, I think you're right. That's got to be it." The two continued to wait and ponder this for about another minute and a half, then their poor chauvinist musings were interrupted when their dates finally arrived in the common room. Ginny heard one of them swallow very loudly.

"Were you waiting for us all this time?" Ginny asked. "I was sure you would have bailed by now."

"I thought the same thing, but apparently they're more determined than we thought." Luna giggled. "So, how do we look?" She spun on the spot to show off every angle of her flowy navy blue skirt and glittering halter top.

Colin bobbed his head eagerly. "You look beautiful, Luna."

"Good, shall we go then?" She took his arm and headed for the portrait. Colin turned his head to look back and grin conspiratorially at Draco.

Ginny took a step towards Draco. "Ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." He couldn't help glancing her over again before he led her into the hallway and to the party.

"You look amazing by the way." And she did. Ginny had finally settled on a short brown skirt with orange and gold sequins scattered over it paired with a creamy white top. The sleeves were a bit wide and also had sequins stitched onto them.

"Thank you; I like that jacket on you. We look fabulous for our party." She grinned.

"Mmhmm, I'll have to guard you jealously, I'd rather I was the only who got to see you looking so wonderful." Ginny felt a small twitch of anger when he said that but answered him lightly.

"Well, this was you can show me off you know, since you're so lucky to have me and all."

He laughed. "You're absolutely right, how silly of me."

"We all have our faults," she said. "Why should you get to be an exception?"

"I'm not an exception, so don't worry about it." His voice didn't betray the darkness of his meaning, and Ginny couldn't have been bothered to notice even if it had. She was deeply bothered by some feeling of unease and she wasn't sure why.

Once they had arrived at the Room of Requirement the party was in full swing, even though two of the hosts had been absent until that moment. Hogwarts students knew how to party.

The room was tastefully decorated in black and white which dissolved the sticky business of house colors. The lighting was low and the dance floor was packed with people moving to the beat of the music blaring from an enchanted boom box. Others were standing by the refreshment table getting drinks and chatting while still more sat on the large pillows scattered around the edges of the room.

As Ginny looked around at the posh scene she felt a little of her apprehension dissipate. Draco tugged her hand and she looked up at him questioningly.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked nodding in the direction of the dance floor.

She smiled. "Sure, I love dancing, I don't know if you knew that."

"I didn't," he grinned. "C'mon."

It turned out that Draco was a much better dancer than Harry, and Ginny found she was thoroughly enjoying herself. Their hips moved with the beat, sometimes together sometimes apart. The crush of warm bodies on all sides was further comforting Ginny's nerves until she had almost forgotten discomfort completely. She laughed aloud and planted a quick kiss on Draco's lips.

"This was such a good idea!" She shouted to be heard above the music.

He grinned and nodded, shouting back, "Want to get a drink?"

She nodded and led him through the crowd still bobbing with music as she walked.

The volume was only slightly lower by the drink table but they didn't have to shout quite so loudly.

"You're a fantastic dancer." Draco said to Ginny while handing her a glass of firewhiskey.

"Thank you, you're not too shabby yourself." She took a larger sip than she intended to but relished the burning sensation as the alcohol wound it's way down to her stomach. "Don't let me have too much of this, I'd rather not get completely smashed."

Draco smirked. "What? Can't hold your liquor?"

"It's not that, I'd just like to avoid making a total fool of myself. I could probably out drink you if I put my mind to it." She grinned and took another sip; she could already feel a pleasant buzz starting in the back of her mind.

"I don't believe you in the least but I suppose I'll take your word for it." He sipped his also and waved at the approach of Luna and Colin. "Having fun?"

The latter couldn't have looked more pleased, besotted as he was with his date. "It's fantastic; this is might even be better than the Rumple Horned Snorcack convention last year!" Luna exclaimed. Ginny rolled her eyes and laughed.

"This is awesome." Colin agreed, helping himself to a butterbeer.

"So Luna, is Colin any good at dancing?" Ginny asked teasingly.

Luna smiled. "Everyone is better than me so yes, he is." She whispered the next in her friend's ear. "A pretty good kisser too if you ask me!"

Ginny couldn't contain her laughter at this, she pulled Luna over again (she had moved away slightly while laughing). "Really, from innocent Mr. Creevy? I'm sure he can't believe his luck."

"Maybe, he's so shy still, it's so cute!" Luna's still enchanting face was suffused with happiness.

"I'm glad you two are happy." Ginny replied firmly, and she was. From a few feet away the boys were watching with mingled amusement and bewilderment.

"What are you giggling about?" Draco asked warily.

The girls turned and smiled at each other, which caused their boyfriends to be even more confused. "Nothing important," Ginny replied.

"Nothing at all." Luna added.

"And if we had been saying anything in particular it would probably be to comment upon how cute that boy's arse is over there." Ginny hid her smile and pointed to a random boy in the crowd.

Luna nodded sagely. "It is isn't it?'

"Excuse me?" Incredulous.

"Really?" Dismayed.

The boys had burst out at the same time. The red head and blonde erupted into laughter then, clutching their sides and trying to catch their breath when they saw how they had affected their boyfriends.

"Should we kill him?" Draco said to Colin.

"Yes, right now, let's go." He rolled up his sleeves.

"Oh stop it you two, don't be so thick headed." Ginny scolded.

"We were just having a laugh, you shouldn't be so insecure." Luna looked right at Colin.

Neither looked pacified however. Ginny threw up her hands in frustration. "C'mon Luna, let's leave them to their brooding and go have some fun without them."

They linked arms and walked away towards the dancing.

Colin sighed. "Damn, she has more sway over me than I ever thought she would; and ever since she had that spell cast on her…"

Draco chuckled and thumped him on the back. "Don't sound so glum, I find I'm in the same boat."

The younger boy looked up then and his expression was suddenly unreadable, a talent Draco didn't know he possessed. "Are you really? I mean, you really do care for her?"

He almost grimaced but realized that probably wouldn't be a good thing to do. So the Gryffindors still suspected him, it figured. He kept his features arranged in what he hoped was a sincere expression.

"Yeah, I do. You're not going to sick Potter on me are you?" Slight contempt laced his tone.

Colin thought quickly back to the letter from Voldemort. "Of course not, Ginny wouldn't appreciate that. She'd probably skin me alive actually, he hasn't exactly been a saint to her."

"She mentioned something like that." Draco said softly. Well, there was his confirmation, Potter really had ditched her. He tried not to smile, but couldn't help it when his lips twitched up slightly.

This wasn't unnoticed by the Gryffindor who decided he had said the right thing. He changed the topic. "Shall we go claim back our girls?"

"Sure." And so a Gryffindor and a Slytherin walked together in seeming friendship, something poor Dumbledore would have once smiled upon.

The rest of the night passed in a blur of music, dancing, and drinking. Ginny could feel that looseness in her limbs and thoughts that she knew meant it was time for her calm down a little, and sit down.

She poked Draco and gestured towards the side area where they could sit. As soon as they broke free of the masses Ginny collapsed onto a black pillow, Draco on a white.

She stretched her legs out and felt her hips crack in a satisfying way; it felt good to be off her feet.

"Are you tired?" Draco asked concernedly.

"Some, but I still have a ton of adrenaline and liquor keeping me wound up. I just need to rest." She turned her head and smiled at him. "How about you?"

"The same, I probably couldn't sleep if I tried." He reached over and pushed the bangs from her eyes.

"Do you think it's hot in here?" She all of a sudden sat up and starting fanning herself.

"Yeah actually. Do want to grab some fresh air?"

"Haha, grab air…" Ginny chuckled, then slapped herself. "Air sounds like a really good idea." She giggled again, and again had to shake herself.

Draco laughed and helped her up, heading for the door. "It sounds like someone has had a bit too much to drink."

"Just a bit." She said firmly. Once they were out in the corridor the cool air hit her hot face like a balm. She hummed in happiness.

"Where too?" Draco asked.

"How about to the Quidditch Pitch? I'd like to lay on the grass and look at the stars."

"Sounds good." They carefully snuck out of the castle and strolled to the wide expanse of grass that marked the pitch. When they had settled on a place that was slightly hidden from view behind one of the goal posts Ginny pulled out her wand and started casting a few spells. First she melted the snow from a space big enough for them lay on. She grinned at the pale boy beside her.

"Hermione taught me this one." All of a sudden they were surrounded by warmth. Experimentally Draco walked to the edge of the space and stuck his hand out, where the snow started again the freezing air pressed against the warm.

"Very clever." He acknowledged.

"I know." She tugged him down beside her. The grounds were drowned in silver starlight that reflected off the snow and made it even brighter. Not a single thing was left untouched by the soft metallic glow; Ginny thought Draco looked so strange. His hair shone like liquid silver but his eyes were shadowed, she found it made him quite handsome in a harsh sort of way.

"Look at them all, there's even more than there were on the night of our first date." She said wonderingly.

"I think you might be right, but that was a pretty good night in my book." Draco squeezed her hand and his thumb traced circles over the back of her hand.

"Mine too."

"Hmm, I seem to remember that you didn't really trust me back then." He said softly.

"Well that was then, you've proved yourself trustworthy now." Inwardly Ginny cringed. "Even if you weren't a good guy I know you wouldn't hurt me."

Draco was having a similar feeling as he said, "Never."

"Speaking of which, just how much of what you told me about your loyalties was true?" She hadn't meant to say it, it sort of slipped.

He was silent for a moment, and for a terrifying second Ginny thought she had blown her cover and spoiled everything. That she had endangered Harry and herself just like he was afraid being with her would do. She held her breath as her hand twitched toward her wand in her pocket.

Then he spoke. "Do really want the truth?"

She kept herself from sighing in relief. "Yes, I do."

He took a deep a breath and let go of her hand, bringing his up to run it through his hair. "Well, here it is. I lied. I told you I had renounced Voldemort, well I never did and he still thinks I'm on his side."

Go on." Her hand was still near her wand.

"He sent me a letter, one I received shortly after I got my Hogwarts invitation." Ginny briefly wondered where he was going with this. "It told me to be wary, and that I was not quite forgiven for my failure last year, but he was going to leave it alone for now. He said to be ready for orders at anytime. That's the letter you saw me reading on the train last September."

'_Oh I bet he thinks he's clever, mixing the lies with truth.' _Ginny thought to herself. Aloud she said, "Ah, well that makes sense."

"Does it?"

It was her turn to be silent and think, he calmly awaited her reply. _'This has to work.'_ He thought.

"If you receive an order to you intend to obey it?" He thought it was a fair question.

"It depends on what the order is. Like I said, I'd never do anything to hurt you, so that includes your friends and family." He kept his voice serious.

"Okay." She continued to gaze up at the stars; she decided that someday she would try to count them. "Thank you for coming clean, it means a lot to me. I'll let this alone now." She took his hand again.

He sat up and looked down at her. Ginny's hair was fanned over the still green grass, and he was reminded of that day when he had argued with Blaise about whether or not Draco had fallen for her. She had looked the same then, lying on the green couch with her hair making a fiery halo around her face.

"You're sure? Because I'll understand if you don't want to be with me anymore."

She sat up then too and gazed directly into his eyes. "I'm sure."

His eyes lit up and the most genuine smile she had ever seen him wear graced his face. It was a dazzling smile.

"I'm so glad." He reached up and his hand traced the curve of her cheek and chin, and stopped there. She lifted her face up towards his and closed her eyes when he kissed her softly.

"I love you," he murmured, barely believing that the words had just escaped him.

If Ginny was surprised she didn't show it at all. "I love you, too." She said, hating herself more with every word. An image of Harry on his knees, begging her not to hurt him pulsed painfully through her mind.

Draco smiled that stunning smile again, and kissed her with more fervor. He had to be in heaven, there was absolutely no other explanation for the unbelievable happiness pounding through his veins. In the back of his mind however, a small voice tried to remind him that he was still deceiving her, and he resolutely ignored it.

A few minutes later they were lying on the ground again, and Ginny's hands were tangled in his hair.

'_I had way too much to drink.'_ She thought grimly to herself, and tried to beat Harry out of her brain.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Alright, it's time to break this party up." Colin said to Luna and she nodded. It was close to one in the morning and it was going to be hard enough getting everyone back unnoticed without them all so trashed and tired that they couldn't stand.

He clapped and the lights came up to their full brightness, he couldn't help a wince. There were several shouts of protest, and more than one person covered their eyes with their hands.

"Oi!" Colin shouted to get everyone's attention. "Hello! I'm sorry to say this but we've got to wrap this up. You don't have to go to bed but you can't stay here, so move out people!"

Just as people had stopped grumbling and started to head out there was a very _loud_ scream.

Everyone whipped around, searching for the source of the disturbance. The first thing that anyone saw was a huge red stain spreading across the white rug, a few panicked sure that it was blood. Then they noticed that there was no body but a good deal of broken glass, and the scream had come from a fifth year girl who was now trying to not to blush.

"I'm sorry; I knocked the punch bowl over. It scared me." She said in a small voice. The whole room seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Okay, move on now, it was just an accident." Colin called over the silent crowd and started everyone moving again.

About ten minutes later the room was empty except for Colin and Luna.

"Finally." She sighed. Colin had already sat down on a pillow and now she sat in front of him and leaned against his legs. "I am so tired."

"Ditto. That was fun though." He replied, absently stroking her hair.

"It really was." She turned and looked at him with her big, grey eyes. "Shall we go back to the common room then?"

He nodded and got up, helping her simultaneously. Out in the corridor they didn't hear the door disappear behind them, Colin slid his arm around Luna's waist and she leaned into him a little as they returned to the Gryffindor common room.

"Did you notice when Ginny and Draco vanished?" Luna asked sleepily.

"Yeah I did, I hope she knows what she's doing. We may be used to him, but he's still dangerous."

"I agree." Her voice was still faint. "You're such a good person Colin, looking out for her like this."

He blushed. "She's my friend; of course I want to protect her."

She sighed happily and when they parted by the stairs she smiled in a way that made his heart jump.

"Goodnight Colin." She hugged him tightly.

"Night Luna." He breathed in her ear, then they went their separate ways.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The next morning there was a huge commotion in the Great Hall, people were whispering, yelling, and running back and forth between the two tables when Ginny came down sleepily to breakfast. She'd been out late with Draco and she had a wicked hangover to top it off, she did not feel like tolerating any dumb rumors that day.

She found Draco and saw that he had a grim expression. "What's happened?" She asked, suddenly alert.

"Blaise is in the infirmary, someone tried to kill him last night."

**A/N I know people are reading this, my email tells me whenever I get added to a list of some sort, so please review! A special thanks to Shannon14 because she never fails to review when I update and it is much appreciated! Till next time, GoldenLocket14.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N I hope you liked the last chapter because here's some more. Oh, and a prize goes to anyone who can figure out what acetophenamine is. Anyone?**

White, blinding white light was coming from every direction. Everything, everywhere she looked, was white. The floor, the ceiling, curtains, beds, sheets; even the pajamas that Blaise had been dressed in were pure white. She didn't envy how painful all that white light was going to be when he woke up.

She silently made her way to his bed, looking down at his handsome face. It was marred by cuts, and his right eye had swollen shut. She gently stretched out a hand and lightly brushed his cheek, her face a mask of sorrow.

"I'm so sorry Blaise, I'm so sorry this had to happen to you." She bent and briefly touched her lips to his. "If you had just told me the truth, this might not have had to happen."

His eyelids twitched as if he heard her and understood. "But you lied to me, and see what's happened because of it?" She sighed and shook her head. "My poor dear, I hate to see you like this. I hope there aren't any scars when you heal."

She brushed his cheek one more time and walked backwards from him slowly, a sad smile painted on her features. "I'm so sorry." She whispered, and closed the door, listening to the soft click of wood on metal.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Did you know anything about this?" Ginny demanded of Draco.

"Are you suggesting I had something to do with it?" He shot back at her. "I was out with you all night; of course I don't know anything about it."

Ginny was stricken to hear the edge in his voice; he was really angry. "Draco, I—I'm sorry, I was just, I thought…"

A little of the anger left his eyes. "It's just that you're his roommate so I thought maybe you knew. But we were out late, so I guess you don't. I'm sorry."

"It's okay; you have cause to suspect me." He said. "We'll go visit him later today; I hope he's not in too rough shape."

Ginny was interested when she heard real concern in his voice; he really was friends with Blaise.

The Great Hall was buzzing with the news and very soon Luna and Colin joined them at the table asking what all the noise was about. The couple shared a significant glance before changing the topic to the party the night before.

"It was a hit if I do say so myself." Luna said.

"Yeah it was, there were so many people, and it seemed like everyone was having a great time." Ginny nodded.

"It was hard to break up too." Colin said. "Speaking of which, where _did_ you two go off to last night? We got back to the dormitories late, but Luna said Ginny wasn't back until a lot later."

"Are you going to ground us, Father?" Ginny asked mockingly.

"Nope, I was just curious." He smirked, something that seemed foreign on his lips. "And if I remember correctly, neither of you were exactly sober."

"Yeah well…" Ginny rubbed her temples, cursing hangovers to the deepest pits of Hell.

"Actually, I was completely sober, there wasn't nearly enough alcohol in my system to make me more than happy."

"You had more firewhiskey than Luna and I combined!" Ginny exclaimed. "You mean to tell me that you don't even have a slight headache?"

"Not at all." He grinned at his lovely red head. "I take it that you do dear?"

"Yes, I do," she snarled. "If you happen to know any handy little spells for that I'd really appreciate it."

He grinned again and pointed his wand at her. "Sure. _Acetophenamine._"

She felt the pressure in her head ease up and most of her nausea instantly abated. She smiled. "Thank you."

"No problem."

Luna looked up. "That spell sounded an awful lot like a muggle term."

Draco thought about that for a minute, then he shrugged. "It might be, I wouldn't know."

They chatted idly for the rest of breakfast then got up to go to the library. "Draco, go ahead without me, I need to speak with Luna for a moment."

He nodded. "Okay." As soon as he was out of earshot, Ginny turned to Luna and Colin who lagged behind with her.

"I received a letter from Harry yesterday warning me to watch myself because he thought there might be an attack, and he thought Blaise and Draco would have something to do with it. I think the assault on Blaise last night was no coincidence." Ginny explained.

"What do you mean?" Colin asked.

"I think Harry got it wrong, they were the targets, not the attackers, which means Draco might be next and I'd bet anything it has to do with their mission from You-Know-Who."

Luna looked grave. "Then who was it?"

"I don't know, but neither should be left alone." Ginny twisted her hands uneasily. "Draco's going to be down in the dungeons by himself now that Blaise is in the infirmary, anything could happen and no one would know until he started missing classes."

"You need to tell him this, well, not the part about Harry's letter of course, but if you're right, he shouldn't be alone." Colin said.

Ginny looked worried. "Yeah, I guess."

"Something else is bothering you." Luna said. It wasn't a question.

She pushed a fiery strand of hair behind her hair and she darted her gaze between her two friends. "Last night he said, well he told me that he, that he loves me." She tripped over the word love. "It sounded like he meant it, and I'm getting good at being able to tell when he's lying."

Colin and Luna looked at each other then back at their distraught friend. "So?"

"If he's telling the truth, I just didn't expect it. He kind of caught me off guard. He also said that he had lied to me about renouncing You-Know-Who, but that he wouldn't hurt me or anyone I loved, even if ordered to."

"And he thinks that that excludes Harry, doesn't he?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, we've all made it pretty clear that Harry has fallen out of my good graces." Ginny still looked uneasy.

Colin thought he knew what she was thinking. "Under no circumstance can you possibly back out now Ginerva Weasly. You have gone to deep underground, you have to finish the job."

Her eyes widened in fear. "I don't want to! Even if I save Harry's life he'll find out what I've been up to all year, and get hurt anyway. And of course if Draco really does l—love me, he's going to be destroyed. And then there's my family, and if I get caught you guys will be in danger. I can't take it!"

Then something surprised Ginny. Luna slapped her. "Don't you dare, Ginny. Don't you dare suggest that you're not strong enough to handle this. Colin and I can take care of ourselves; your family is under heavy protection and they'll just be thankful if you're alive and breathing at the end of this no matter what you had to do to keep yourself in such a positive state." She paused, staring intently into Ginny's eyes. "As for Harry and Draco, you knew from the beginning that one of them was going to get hurt, and I knew for certain that you would be hurt again."

The desperate look on Ginny's face was starting to relax a little. "You have to do this, and you will do it. There might not be a happy ending, but for Merlin's sake let's at least shoot for one that doesn't end with all of us dead or imprisoned."

Finally Ginny nodded. "Okay."

"Yeah? We don't need to slap you around some more?" Colin asked in a slightly teasing voice.

"Yes, I'll do it." She tried to reassure herself. "It was just a moment of weakness, we're going to get that happy ending."

"Good." Luna hugged her tightly. "Go see him now, he's probably wondering what's taking so long."

"Thanks guys, I'm glad I have you here to help." She replied. The she hugged Colin and left for the library.

"Wow, Luna that was quite a speech, I didn't know you had it in you." Colin said admiringly.

"She needed it. Also, I'm full of surprises." She smiled.

"Don't I know it." He took her hand. "C'mon," he said. "I know this great little spot on the fifth floor where no one else will be."

Luna laughed and the happy couple walked off together.

**(Does anyone other than me like Luna and Colin as a couple? I think they're adorable, I'm often tempted to spend much more time on them than is necessary…)**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Ginny crept up behind Draco and slid her hands over his eyes. She leaned forward and whispered, "Guess who."

She felt his cheeks move up in a grin. "Well, she's clever and beautiful, I know that much…Hmm, is it Pansy?"

"Oh boy, you better take that back right now or I will end this relationship here and now." Ginny straightened as Draco turned, she put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Ah Gin, you know I was joking. She's not half so wonderful as you, no one is." He grinned. "You know you want to forgive me."

She smiled. "Yeah, I was just messing with you." She sat down next to him and pulled parchment, ink, a quill, and her Charms textbook out of her bag.

She saw that Draco had already written a good five inches. "Oi, that is not fair." She said indicating his scroll.

He smirked at her. "Well if you hadn't been busy with _girl talk _you would have started by now."

Ginny made an unhappy noise. "Jerk." She muttered.

"You don't mean that."

"Don't I though?"

"Nope, not at all. I only spoke the truth, and anyway, I'm charming. You don't mean it."

"I'm ignoring you now." Ginny bent studiously over her work and proceeded to do just what she said she would. She heard Draco chuckle beside her and then resume scratching away at his own essay.

About half an hour later Ginny tossed down her quill in frustration. "Something wrong?" Draco asked.

"You're in danger." She blurted out.

Draco looked up in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"It's not exactly hard evidence but I think that whoever attacked Blaise is going to come after you next. I don't want you down in the dungeons by yourself tonight; I think you should stay in the Gryffindor dormitories."

He regarded her silently for a moment. "Why do you think that?"

"I just do okay? And anyway, if there is someone dangerous in the school no one should be alone." Ginny looked distressed. "Please Draco, just in case; I really would appreciate it if you bunked with Colin."

"Why don't we go see Blaise, and if he thinks it's a good idea, then I'll do as you say." He replied. Ginny looked at him concernedly for another moment before she agreed.

After they had both finished their essays they packed up their bags and went to see the injured Slytherin.

"How bad off do you think he is?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know, but if he wasn't going to make it I'm sure we would have heard something."

They were almost to the Infirmary and Ginny was getting jumpier the closer they got. She couldn't stop thinking about who might be the attacker, she was completely absorbed in her thoughts.

"Ginny, move!" The warning came too late, she was vaguely aware of walking into something, but then she was on the ground, her pounding headache was back full force.

"I am so sorry, Ginny are you okay?" A hand materialized in front of her face. She blearily reached out her own and grabbed it, she was pulled steadily to her feet.

"Lavender? I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going, it was my fault." Ginny's vision was starting to clear.

"Where are you two lovebirds headed?" Lavender asked cheerfully. Apparently she was one of the few people who didn't have a problem with their relationship. Although Ginny was sure that she was probably one of the main sources of gossip.

"We're going to the Hospital Wing to check up on Blaise."

"You're on first name terms with all the Slytherins. Very interesting."

Draco shifted uncomfortably next to Ginny. "Yeah well, these things do happen."

Lavender gave him a shrewd look. "Yes, things do happen don't they?"

"Yeah…" Ginny thought that Lavender was acting a bit strange. "We'd better get going, you know, things to do, people to see."

Lavender cocked her head to the side. "Yes, I suppose you are busy. Goodbye then, catch you later Ginny."

"Okay, bye." Lavender started to walk by them when Ginny suddenly thought of something. "Lavender!"

She turned back. "Yeah?"

"What were you doing up here?"

Lavnder smiled, and her eyes took on a mischievous glitter. "Me? Why I was just passing through." Then she waved and walked away.

"What was that about?" Draco asked.

"Probably nothing." Ginny muttered. "C'mon, let's go."

In the Infirmary they saw Madame Pomphrey coming out of her office with several jars and a cup in her hands.

"What do you want?" She snapped.

"We just wanted to see how Blaise is doing." Draco said.

The little nurse looked between Ginny and Draco a few times then down at their joined hands, she snorted. "I didn't believe the rumors; well I guess times do change." She went back to her patient. "You may visit for a little while; I was just about to wake him up to give him some potions."

The two stood a little back from the bed while Madame Pomphey worked. Blaise looked pretty bad to Draco, and when he saw who was visiting him he raised his hand in acknowledgement.

After Pomphrey bustled away, reminding them not to stay too long, Ginny and Draco pulled up chairs and sat down.

"How are you holding up mate?" Draco asked.

"How does it look?" Blaise replied, his voice was a little raspy.

Ginny took in the cuts and the black eye, he looked as if whatever had happened he put up a fight.

"Not good." Draco glanced him over as well. "Do you know who did this?"

Blaise paled. "I…I, no, I don't."

"This is important, Blaise. We need to know who did this and if they're still in the building."

"I said I don't know." Blaise snapped. "But they're probably still here."

Ginny glanced at Draco. "So do think that Draco shouldn't be alone, you know in the dungeons." It seemed like he had gotten even paler, although that wasn't really possible.

"No, find somewhere else to be, somewhere with lots of people." He shuddered, and lowered his voice. "The Dark Lord is watching."

Draco gained a little pallor of his own. "How do you know?"

"The person who attacked me, she's working for him."

"You said you didn't know who did it!"

"I lied, I know who it is, but I won't say who. If she finds out, I'll really die next time."

"Fine, don't tell us, but why is He doing this?" Draco asked.

"Beats me." His eyes were starting to flutter and he yawned.

Draco growled in the back of his throat. "Go to sleep, we'll talk later." With that he got up and left. Ginny looked helplessly at Blaise, then she followed Draco out of the room.

**A/N Hey there, not to be bitchy or anything, but I'd love to more reviews! I'm going crazy wondering if anyone is actually reading this and likes it, or has a critique even, I'm fully willing to hear those. Anywho, till next time! **


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N Hey there, I was suffering from severe writer's block and the need to complete my summer reading before summer is in fact, over. So here's Chapter seventeen, it's short but I thing it's pretty good!**

**Chapter 17**

Draco bent to Ginny's will and conceded to sleep in the Gryffindor dormitories till they thought it was safe for him to return to the dungeons. He was there for quite a few weeks, all the way through to the end of February actually. Blaise was still in the hospital and Ginny was still driving herself half crazy trying to figure out who could possibly have tried to kill him. It didn't make sense to her. Whoever it was had to have access to the Slytherin common room without having to go in with one of the boys. As far as she knew she was the only one who had that sort of power.

If it was a spy for Voldemort then he must know something that Ginny didn't, which meant that her plan might not go the way she wanted it to. What could he know that would make him hurt Blaise? Why Blaise even? He wasn't the one trying to seduce Ginny, so why would the attack be on him?

All of her questions constantly circled around in her mind, she thought she knew how Harry must have felt in his Sixth year when he thought Draco was up to something. All of this just added to the looming N.E.W.T.S, so imposing in the near future. Every professor seemed to think it was their personal duty to reinforce how important the exams were by assigning increasingly large amounts of difficult homework, Ginny was sure she would have to jump off the Astronomy Tower soon.

Valentine's day had been rather sticky for the four friends that month. Luna and Colin got all dressed up and disappeared for the day, doing Merlin knows what. So Ginny had to deal with the brief appearance of Harry and the romantic wiles of Draco by herself.

Thankfully Harry had appeared sometime between lunch and breakfast while Ginny was in her room, she almost peed herself when he tapped on her window, sitting on his broom. She let him in and he pushed a huge bouquet of red roses into her hands and hugged her for a good two minutes before he could say anything coherent. Even then he refused to say anything about the Horcruxes except that they were tracking down the last one they could get to without being face to face with Voldemort.

For once Ginny was glad to see his infuriatingly charming good looks, he was so tired though. She could tell that even though he was grinning like a fool at the sight of her, he was basically walking dead. The shadows under his eyes, and the hollow look of his cheeks served only to make him more handsome, but it worried Ginny. If he found out about Draco, he'd die, she absolutely knew that he'd just drop dead. So while his visit lasted she tried to be as pleasant and happy to see him as possible, always being sure to flash his ring on her finger.

He left about a half an hour later and immediately after his departure a first year came to tell her that Draco wanted her to meet him in room 401 on the fourth floor. It was quite a day, and Ginny was exhausted by the end of it.

It was a Monday night when Ginny finally had a new question to ask Draco about Blaise. They were sitting at a table by the fire doing homework when it came to her.

"Draco, did Blaise have a girlfriend?" Ginny had ink on her nose and Draco had a hard time pulling his attention away from how cute she was while he answered.

"Now that I think of it he said he was seeing someone but he wouldn't say who."

"Were there any girls hanging around the dungeons who seemed suspicious to you?" Ginny was sure she was on to something.

He took a moment and searched his memory. "No, I don't think so. Do you think that whoever this girl is is the one who tried to do him in?"

"It's just a hunch, but it's the only one I've had in awhile that wasn't completely ridiculous." She glanced out the window at the falling snow. Harry would be cold tonight. "I just wish we had something to go on."

Draco put down his quill and stood up, pacing a little. "Why don't we just go ask him? If he won't tell us who he was seeing, then I'll be willing to bet anything that whoever this girl he had the hots for got a tad angry."

"A tad? Now there's an understatement." Ginny got up and took Draco's hand. "Let's go talk to him."

Once they made it to the Hospital Wing and had found Blaise sitting up on his cot with a book in his hands, they prepared themselves to get an answer by any means necessary.

When the couple had sat in chairs next to the bed Blaise looked up from his book, he didn't even look at Ginny. "Hello Draco, Ginny."

"Hey Blaise, we have a question for you." Ginny started, she was so used to his inattention that she wasn't surprised when he nodded but still didn't look right at her. His gaze was focused somewhere over her left shoulder.

"You told me that you were seeing someone, you remember, it was before Christmas. We were arguing." Draco spoke carefully, trying not to reveal any details.

"Yes, I remember." He glanced down at his hands. "I suppose you want to know who she was."

"That was the purpose of me reminding you of it." Draco replied dryly.

"And if I don't tell you?"  
"Then we'll find out some other way, you probably wouldn't want it getting out that I was trying to hunt down a girl that you were dating secretly. I can already hear the rumors."

'I never liked working with you very much." Blaise replied. "If you must know, I too was dating a Gryffindor."

Ginny looked mildly surprised but her boyfriend didn't seem to even be fazed. "Figures, of course you wouldn't want to admit that to me after the things you've said about Ginny."

"Of course not." Blaise had a cold, hard expression on his face.

"I am sitting right here you know." She piped up, then gave it up as a bad job as. The two Slytherins were locked in what seemed to be a sort of silent battle. It appeared that Draco was winning.

"Lavender Brown, I was seeing Lavender. The same girl that was snogging Ron Weasly last year." He looked furious.

"But she's obnoxious!" Ginny blurted out. Finally he looked right at her, his eyes were not friendly.

"She's different now. Her summer was rather trying, Lavender is simply not the same girl she was last year. She's also very talented." His tone was completely flat, except for his last sentence. His voice and face displayed admiration, irony, and something that sounded a bit evil.

"I see." Draco said.

"You do?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"I knew you would." Blaise answered.

"Let's go Ginny." He stood and took her arm, steering her out of the room, despite her confused protests.

"What's going on? Draco, explain this instant or I won't go another step!"

"Would you just be patient for two seconds?" He walked a little further and opened a door into an empty classroom, dragging her in with him. With a flick of his wand one of the lamps flared to life.

"Well?" Ginny crossed her arms and waited for an answer.

"Lavender tried to kill him."

"What? Why would she do that, why were they dating in the first place?"

"Lavender is a spy for the Dark Lord; he's using her for her talents in divination." Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Having Blaise go out with her was His way of ensuring her loyalty. I don't know details, but I'll bet something is going on that He isn't happy about."

"Like what?" Ginny was very confused. Why was Voldemort putting so much store in a bunch of teenagers? This whole thing was getting ridiculous.

"I think someone must have slipped that…Someone must have told…" Draco stopped talking and stared apologetically at Ginny.

"Spit it out!"

"I can't, I can't tell you." He looked ashamed.

"Why not?" She was getting really mad now. She decided to play an ace. "Don't lie to me Draco, if you have something you have to do then tell me. Don't lie, that will just make it worse. I want you to trust me."

He took a moment to play with his hair, look down at his shoes, and then lean against a desk. All of a sudden his features were smooth and cold. "The Dark Lord sent me a letter a few weeks ago with a set of orders. It came right before the attack."

Ginny didn't speak; she simply waited to hear what story he was going to feed her this time. "He found out about us, and he wants me to use you."

"To do what?"

"He wants me to make you help Him. He needs you to use your connection to Harry to distract him. I don't know when He wants you to do that, but He ordered me to start lodging the idea in your brain. He said to use the Imperius if necessary."

Ginny did her best to look surprised and upset, in reality she was only slightly anxious, things were starting to come to a head.

"What did you tell him?"

"I said no."

She almost stopped breathing. Now that was an unexpected plot twist. She couldn't make words form, her lips moved but no sound came out.

"Someone must have told Him that Lavender was in a position to do His dirty work for Him. He had her attack Blaise as a warning to me, and now to you. We're next on the list if we don't tell him that we'll cooperate."

"Are you asking me to do what he says?" Ginny asked quietly.

"Yes." He breathed deeply and took her hands. "But that's not all, I want you to help me bring Him down."

"What?" Ginny couldn't believe what he was saying.

"Ginny, my beautiful, precious Ginny, I want you to help me kill the Dark Lord. Together we can do it, together we can save everyone." Draco had an intense, wild look of happiness and determination on his face.

"Everyone except for Harry." Ginny replied.

His face fell, the light and warmth leaving his face.

"I'll do it."

**A/N So how about that huh? Any thoughts out there? Review pretty please!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N Sorry for the long wait, I've been so busy it isn't even funny, actually, there isn't anything funny about what's been happening. But I must ask, why is no one reviewing? I have but one faithful reviewer, and that is all I can boast. If you like this story people, review!!!!!**

**Chapter 18**

_Master,_

_I have come to my senses and now see the wisdom of your orders. I promise you that they will be followed and have already come to fruition. The Weasly girl is on our side, she has agreed to be Potter's downfall. Forgive me for my mistake in refusing your first order. _

_Your humble servant, Draco_

As the snow melted and spring rains began to fall Ginny and Draco laid their plans. The night he revealed his true wishes to her, she immediately went to find Luna and Colin to tell them what had transpired. In the following weeks she began to trust Draco for real and saw that he really was a changed man, she even found herself forgetting Harry completely for days at a time. Then they'd talk about their plan again and she'd be painfully reminded of the boy she was double crossing.

In the meantime Blaise had recovered sufficiently to return to his dormitory, so Draco moved back in too.

It was sometime in April before Harry showed up again, and this time he knew a secret.

Ginny and Draco were in the Library together pretending to do homework while they secretly held a discussion concerning Lavender's recent attempts at spying on them.

"Did I tell you that I found her sitting behind the couch in the Common Room trying to listen to what Luna and I were talking about?" Draco shook his head, a smile beginning to form on his lips. "Well, instead of calling her out I just started doing an impression of her. 'Luna! I—I can see something! Yes, it's becoming clearer now, there is presence in this room. It is female, and I believe that she is listening to us right now!'"

Draco was laughing, Ginny had bugged her eyes out and had placed her hands on either side of her head, her voice was deep and dramatic. "She got so mad that she jumped up and tried to hex me, but Luna Silenced her first and she stormed out of the room stamping her feet and flipping me off the whole time."

While the two were laughing Harry went in under the Invisibility Cloak and tapped Ginny's shoulder. He whispered very quietly, "Meet me in the courtyard." Ginny stiffened at the sudden warmth on her ear and then cold; she didn't think he sounded very happy. So as soon as she could she made an excuse and fled outside, dread creeping into her stomach with every step.

He was sitting on a stone bench, the dying afternoon light casting his profile into sharp relief. The tips of his messy hair seemed to drip fire from the sun, and his form set against gray stone of the courtyard made him seem to be some untouchable, young god. When he turned towards the sound of her footsteps and their eyes locked, Ginny stopped dead, unable to move another step.

"It's good to see you." Ginny said quietly.

He stood and walked a few steps forward, but he too couldn't seem to get very close to her. "It's good to see you too, but I'm a little confused."

She just looked at him trying to figure out what she should do. He was holding the Marauder's Map limply at his side but she knew he had been staring at it before she had arrived. When she saw it, it briefly registered in her mind that he must know who she had been spending so much time with and where. She silently thanked every deity that came to mind that she hadn't been to the Slytherin common room since before Valentine's day.

"What do you want to know?"

"I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm just wondering why I've seen you with _him_ so often these last few months." Harry's face was in shadow now, making him seem more menacing than she had ever seen him look. He was a dark god indeed, to know the doings of mortals so far from him.

'_He can't find out, he can't know anything about Draco and I or it'll ruin everything! What do I do, what do I say? Ugh, I hate lying all the time!'_

"Remember last fall I told you I had a Slytherin for a Potion's partner, well, Malfoy is my partner and we've been studying for the N.E.W.T.S., actually he's been helping me with a lot of my subjects." Ginny was surprised at how calm and honest her reply sounded.

"It sounded like you two have gotten rather close, you seemed to be having a jolly time back there in the library." His face was still shadowed and his voice was sharp and sarcastic.

That made Ginny mad. She pushed her hair out of her face impatiently and her posture became threatening. "Do you honestly think you have any right to dictate who I spend my time with? Well guess what, you don't! You left me in Diagon Alley and expected me to be okay with it, you show up whenever you damn well please and think that I can just take time out of my life for you without any notice whatsoever, and now you're getting mad at _me_ because I was acting like a normal human being around Malfoy! Get over yourself Harry, you don't own me."

Before she could even finish her last sentence Harry had moved forward until he was right in front of her and she saw that his handsome face was etched with sorrow. The thing about Harry though, is that his pain is often translated into anger, and Ginny was bracing herself for the blow she was sure would come, physical or verbal.

He started to reach out his hand and she involuntarily flinched backwards. He saw this and stepped back again, untouchable once more. A ray of sun glanced off of his glasses making it impossible to see past the lenses. "You're afraid of me. Do honestly think I would hurt you?"

"No, I'm not afraid, just…wary. I don't know what you're thinking." Ginny's hands were clenched; she could feel her palms beginning to moisten with sweat.

"I just wanted to have some sense of how you were doing, and I noticed how often you were alone with Malfoy," he spat the name as if it were poison. "I thought maybe you were…I thought the two of you might be…" He trailed off into silence.

Her anger and fear abated as she realized what he meant, and in the process prepared herself for another lie. "I would never cheat on you Harry, you know I love you. I wouldn't do that to someone I love." Every word that fell from her lips was toxic, each one plunged an icy dagger though heart and she imagined the shredded mess his would be when he found out what was going on. _'I'm killing him with my deceit; slowly I will surely kill him.'_

"I know that, but some part of me needed proof. I had to come and ask you, it's been torturing me for a week and a half." His voice was mildly desperate.

"Well I already said it; I'm not cheating on you. I really wish you wouldn't spy on me though, I want you to trust me." _'Trust me. How many people have I told to trust me when I know that I'm the last person anyone should trust right now? What am I turning in to?'_

"I trust you Ginny." Harry said. He ruffled his dark hair in frustration. "I'm sorry for all this. I'm getting restless, we're so close to the end I can practically smell it. When I thought that you might be with Malfoy," he shuddered, "I was sure that meant you were no longer on my side. I guess I was wrong."

"I guess so." Ginny mentally kicked herself; she was going to need intense therapy when this was all over. _Seriously, there are hospitals for people like me_, she thought.

Harry shuffled his feet a little guiltily. "I can't really stay, it's getting dark and I told Ron and Hermione I wouldn't be long. So I should probably just go."

"Okay." Ginny walked to him and hugged him tightly. "I'll see you soon I hope."

"It might be sooner than you think, the next time we meet could be when I face off with Him."

She nodded. "I'll be there."

"I want you to stay as safe as you can Ginerva Weasly, that doesn't include fighting."

"If I want to fight then I will!"

Harry smiled tiredly. "We'll have this argument some other time. Just be ready for anything."

"I always am."

"Goodbye Ginny." He kissed her cheek.

"Before I say goodbye, promise you won't spy on me with the map anymore." She was absolutely set on keeping him in the dark about where she was.

"I solemnly swear never to spy on you again." He said.

"Thank you. Goodbye Harry, stay safe, and do whatever you need to take down that evil git."

"I will, bye." He stepped back and with a 'pop' he was gone. Ginny stared at the space where he had been and wondered how he figured out how to get around the protective spells surrounding the grounds.

The sun had set behind the mountains in the west and the courtyard had become very dim. She went back to the castle and descended to the dungeons, intending to go to the Slytherin common room. When she reached the entrance she composed herself and decided what she was going to tell Draco.

She found him in his room, sitting on his bed, a book in his hands and his back against the headboard. She never bothered to knock anymore, but it had been a long time since she had visited him here so he jumped slightly when he heard the door open.

"Hey Gin, I hadn't expected to see you again tonight." She walked over and sat on the bed by his feet, and crossed her legs.

"I wanted to talk to you." She said.

"Alright then, what about?" He put a marker in his book and set it aside.

"I was just in the courtyard with Harry, having the most interesting discussion." She replied calmly.

He straightened up a little. "I thought you said he was seeing another girl."

"Yeah, about that." Ginny forced her features into an annoyed expression. "He actually visited a few months ago to tell me that he had lied about that, he just wanted to ensure that I wasn't in any danger, but he couldn't stand lying to me anymore so he had to spill the truth. I told him that I forgave him, but you can't even imagine how angry I was."

"I have a vague idea." He said, remembering several displays of Ginny's temper at once.

"Well anyway things went back to how they were before. You know, not officially a couple, but that loving from afar for our own good thing. Total bull if you ask me, but whatever, that's old news." He nodded.

"So why did he come to see you today?"

"Apparently he knows we've been spending a lot of time together, and I have no idea how he might know that, and he wanted me to tell him why. He said he thought that maybe I was cheating on him with you."

Draco was experiencing both amusement and panic from that piece of news. "What did you tell him?"

Ginny snorted. "What do you think? I told him he should trust me and that I'd never do that to him. I also made him promise not to spy on me anymore, he still doesn't know anything. Our plans are safe."

Draco let himself grin now. The irony of it was priceless, he wished that he could tell Potter to his face that he had stolen his girl. What a perfect victory that would have been, but it wasn't practical under the circumstances. Victory over him would come soon enough.

"Thank you Gin, I appreciate that you would tell me something like that." He smiled at her. "Everything is working out really well."

Ginny was relieved that she had gotten that over with, she was playing these two boys like a concert pianist. She just hoped that it all wouldn't backfire on her at the end.

"Yeah, it is." She stretched out and laid on her stomach, propping her head up on her hands. She looked up at him and grinned. "Tomorrow's Saturday, so I don't have to leave early tonight."

"That's just what I wanted to hear."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Later that night as Ginny was sneaking back to her own common room, something occurred to her. She no longer felt very guilty when she was kissing Draco. She realized with alarm that she was actually starting to feel something for him that was vaguely like how she felt when she was with Harry the year before.

Now that she knew he wasn't actually some evil death eater, she couldn't think of any reason why she shouldn't want to be with him. Except that he wanted to kill Harry, yeah, that was kind of a biggy. For some odd reason she always had to remind herself of that one.

As she climbed into her bed and turned over to try and fall asleep, she found herself wondering just who's side she was on: Harry's or Draco's?

**A/N How was that? Review please!**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N We're getting very close to the last chapter now, maybe one or two more, and then 'poof' this fic will be no more. Well, I won't spend anymore time writing it that is. **

The sky was growing darker. All light seemed to be fading and the stars had not yet begun to show, it was a place in limbo. It knew neither light nor dark, and it danced on the thinnest of threads, carefully balancing on an unmade decision. It twirled and leapt, spun and bowed, and all the while the sky was growing darker…

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"I need advice."

"What sort of advice?"

"The sort that involves telling me what to do."

What's troubling you? Has a star sprite been bothering you?"

Ginny stared at Luna for a moment, then shook her head. "Just tell me that I love Harry and that I'm trying to help him."

"Okay…Ginny, you love Harry and have for several years. In the end, this whole thing with Draco will ultimately save his life." Luna cocked her head to the side, her blonde hair tumbled over shoulder as she did so in a very beautiful and dramatic way. Apparently the charm still had a strong hold on her. Ginny sighed.

"I know that, and I feel it. Sometimes though, I forget all about Harry. Sometimes when I'm with Draco and we're just hanging out, I'll forget him for days at a time. Then Draco will mention our plan and Harry comes screaming back into my mind." She said.

"You don't know who you really want to help."

Ginny looked at her friend helplessly. "What can I do?"

"Well, look at it this way. Whether you side with Draco or not he'll live. If he does die, and that is always a possibility, it will probably be an accident and it won't have anything to do with you. However, if you side against Harry, he will die. There is no escaping the fact that Harry won't survive if you act against him with Draco." Luna waited a moment while Ginny considered this. "So, if you can't decide right now who you want to be with, ensure that they both live. Sabotage Draco's plan and save Harry, that way you can have all the time you need to choose one, if they'll still have you, and what happens from there can hardly be guessed at."

"You're right, you're absolutely right. I have to save Harry, even if I do choose Draco the only right and decent thing for me to do is to save Harry." Ginny looked relieved. "I suppose I owe it to him at this point."

"Besides, after all this hard work, it would be pointless not to. Everything we've done this year has led up to this point, there's really no way you can turn back now."

"Thank you Luna. I think you and Colin just might be my Ron and Hermione, you know Harry always talks about how he would probably be dead by now if he didn't have their help. I think I'd be pretty screwed without the two of you also." They laughed and hugged and then went to find the third part of their golden trio.

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"Give it up Lavender, if Draco says that they're on the Dark Lord's side then they are." Blaise and Lavender were sitting on the green velvet couch in the Slytherin common room. It was late in the evening, however Draco was out with Ginny, so they weren't worried about being overheard.

"I know you believe him, but I can't help that I keep having visions of a betrayal." She tossed her head back in a haughty way, as if daring him to contradict her again.

He laughed at her behavior, which only made her scowl at him. "Lav, you know that never works with me. You don't intimidate me." He thought for a moment. "Anyway, how do you know that the betrayal you keep seeing isn't Ginny betraying Potter, that's sort of a big deal."

"I've thought of that. Sometimes it does seem as if that's what the vision means, but other times it doesn't, it's more like someone is trying to do just the opposite. That they're trying to save Potter, not kill him."

"I think you're thinking to hard. You've done what you were told to do, now leave it alone, this isn't our battle." Blaise toyed with a loose thread on his robes. "Can I ask you something?"

"I guess."

"You're not really on the Dark Lord's side, are you?" This had been bothering Blaise for quite some time. He couldn't believe that two do-gooder Gryffindors could have turned, it just seemed too odd.

Lavender was quiet for a moment, she leaned back on the armrest of the couch and stared at the ceiling. "And if I answer you, are you going to run and tell Him my answer?"

"No, that isn't why I'm asking. I'm not the spy, remember?" It was a cheap shot and he knew it, but he wanted to get a response from her, not an evasion.

"No, you're not a spy, you're a liar. But we all have our little faults, don't we? It's whether or not we can be forgiven that's important."

He didn't reply, he simply waited for her to go on. His cool attitude was part of what attracted Lavender to him, for some reason she found his removal from emotion alluring. Mostly she loved when she could make him drop his shield and actually show what he was feeling, that was always the best part.

"If you must know, I want Him to die. I think the Dark Lord is wrong about everything, I hate that I helped him, I hate Him. So no, I'm not on his side. What I did was not my choice, and the reason I won't leave my visions alone is because I want to know who's trying to save Harry because I want to help. I want to make up for my treason, even if it was involuntary."

"So the truth comes out," Lavender heard Blaise snort. "I knew it was too good to be true."

That made her sit up and face him. "What do you mean?"

He laughed at her for the second time that night, but it wasn't a happy laugh. "I mean that I knew there was no way that you could really have turned."

"You're not exactly for His cause either, so I don't understand why you're disappointed." She snapped at him.

He grinned at her, and his dark eyes glinted in the light from the fireplace. "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I am somewhere in the gray; but I have to tell you, it was pretty sexy to think that you were evil."

Lavender hid a smile and threw a pillow at him instead.

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Ginny and Draco were out on the roof again, for no particular reason other than the fact that Ginny wanted a breath of fresh air. She had been planning to go up there by herself but she had run into Draco in the hallway. When he asked to go with her she didn't think she could say no.

So there the two sat, in near silence, not touching or speaking or even looking at each other. They both sensed a barrier that needed to be respected, though Draco probably had no idea what the barrier was all about.

The stars were particularly dim that night. The dark sky was scattered with thousands, millions, of faint little specks that didn't seem up to glittering. Ginny half expected them to sputter out and die. Wisps of clouds graced the heavens as a sort of ethereal robe, cloaking the moon from view but for an occasional glimpse of silver light.

She was thinking about Harry, and about the promises she had broken. She felt an anger somewhere deep in her stomach that was directed nowhere but within. Suddenly, Ginny broke the quiet.

"We're agreed then. When Harry and Voldemort meet, He thinks that we're going to distract Harry as he utters the killing curse. So I'm going to run out and yell Harry's name, and while Voldemort thinks he has the upper hand you'll kill him." Ginny said. She was sitting with her knees under her chin, her arms wrapped around her legs. Almost as if she was trying to protect herself from what she was saying.

"That's right, and it's going to be soon. The Dark Lord is planning an attack, on Hogwarts, he's sure that Potter will hear of it and be unable to resist showing up to defend his school." Draco's voice sounded eager; there was a coiled intensity in the way he spoke of the coming battle that repulsed Ginny.

"All we can do now is wait." She replied, and silence descended once more. She could practically see the fighting now, hear the screams and curses, and feel the dread and pain when she was told someone was dead. Yes, the end was coming close. While she couldn't wait for this whole mess to be over with, she thought she could stand an eternity if it meant never having to tell Harry what she'd done this year. Eventually she was going to have to tell him, and she didn't think it was going to go all that well.

"I'm tired Draco, I think I'm going to return to my common room," she walked over to her broom and picked it up. "I'll see you in the morning."

She took off and didn't look back, so she didn't see Draco's confused look or see him pick up his own broom and leave also.

By the time Ginny reached the portrait of the Fat Lady it was almost eleven o'clock.

"Fairy Wings." She said and the portrait swung forward grudgingly, muttering about curfews and young fools. She entered the common room expecting to find it empty, only to be greeted by the sight of Hermione sitting upon the red sofa.

"Hermione!" Ginny said, and rushed over to her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Shh, I don't want anyone to know that I'm here." Despite her sharp words she smiled. "I'm glad you've come, I couldn't figure out where you were from the Map and Luna didn't know anything either. She just said that you went for a walk."

"The Map? Has Harry been looking at it still?" Ginny started to panic a little, she couldn't lose it now, not when she was so close to the end of this.

"No of course not, he told us what you said, and he's kept his word. I just borrowed it for the night because I need to speak with you."

"Oh, okay." She sat down next to Hermione. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I want to ask something," she began. "I need you to get the D.A. together and prepare them to fight, and if necessary guard the younger students. I also want you to try and set some traps around the castle, Neville can probably get some things like Devil's snare and such to put in front of windows and doors. The battle is coming here, we're almost sure of it."

Ginny felt like she was stuck in a perpetual loop, she kept hearing and saying the same things over and over again. It was déjà vu of the worst kind. "Right, of course I'll do that." She'd have to ask Luna to do it the first chance she got. It might seem a bit fishy if she was caught reassembling the D.A.

"Oh good, that's really the only thing we can think of to do." Hermione rubbed her eyes. "I should probably go, Ron will be worried. I was supposed to be back half an hour ago."

"Okay, well I'm glad to see you. I take it things between you and my brother are still going well?"

A real smile graced her friend's face. "Yeah, they are."

"Good." Ginny stood and helped Hermione up also. "Take of yourself, and the two idiots you're traveling with." They laughed and a few moments later Hermione took her leave.

After Hermione was gone, Ginny sat back down on the couch and stared into the fireplace, the small flames jumped around nervously, as if they were tired and wanted her to leave so they could go out.

She couldn't have been sitting there for more than five minutes when she heard soft foot steps coming towards her. She didn't bother to turn around, knowing that if whoever was there wanted to talk to her they would just walk up.

Luna stepped lightly onto the carpet by the hearth, she was wearing her white night gown and her feet were bare.

"Hello Luna, have a seat." Ginny gestured to the space next to her.

"What did Hermione want? She came upstairs looking for you but I didn't know where you went so I told her either to wait for you to come back or try again tomorrow."

"She wants me, us, to get the D.A. back together and set up traps around the school. She'd also like us to brush up on our defensive spells and if necessary protect the younger students." Ginny said.

"You want me and Colin to do that don't you?" Luna asked quietly.

"Yeah, you understand why I can't help right?" Even Ginny could hear the desperation in her voice; she immediately sat up straighter and tried to appear confident. This was getting ridiculous.

"I understand, I'm not happy about it, but I understand." She took on a more serious tone. "This better be worth it, Ginny. You've turned your back on quite a few things you once believed in, and I hope that you haven't done so much damage that nothing can be repaired."

Ginny listened and nodded, refusing to feel sorry for herself. "I hope so too, but if I'm able to save Harry's life, anything will be worth it.

"Okay. I'll talk to Neville and Colin tomorrow then." Luna grinned wickedly. "We'll give those Death Eater's a run for their money."

Ginny gave a small smile. "Let the D.A. know that I'm with them. Dumbledore's Army will rise again and do the good man proud, and Harry too."

"Consider it done."

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A week later, as Ginny was eating her breakfast, an owl dove though the air at her and crashed into her cereal bowl. It hopped up and stuck its leg out, a scroll was attached there. Ginny untied it and began to read the hastily written words.

_Ginny,_

_Gather the D.A., warn the professors, evacuate the younger students. The last battle is here, and it's going to be at Hogwarts. We're coming Gin, and so is He. Lord Voldemort is on His way. _

_Harry_

**A/N Hey y'all, this is it. We're down to the wire now, review please!**


	20. A note to my readers

**A/N Okay, I feel I need to address something before I post the final chapter. Let's get something straight, Ginny, even though she is my main character, is not supposed to be likable. No she is not a good guy, yes she has screwed up morals, and she is not bloody perfect. I never wanted her to be, there is a point to that. Oh yeah, and of course it was petty for her to go out with Draco, she's SIXTEEN! Practically every sixteen year old girl on the planet has done something petty and childish because somebody pissed her off. That's life. **

**Unfortunately it won't be till the end that I get my point across if it hasn't already been guessed. Has anyone noticed that not a single main character in my story has displayed good or noble qualities? They are the worst traits of humanity. **

**Ginny-the deceiver.**

**Luna-the enabler. **

**Draco-the tempter/all around slime ball. **

**Blaise-the double agent. **

**Colin-the weakling. **

**Harry-he's so naïve it isn't even funny. **

**There's a reason I wrote such shitty and flawed characters. And anyway, not every story has to be full of characters that are righteous and have only good intent and noble feelings. The point I am trying to make can only be made with such horrible characters, if they were all good and perfect then I wouldn't have a story. **

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, good or bad, and I hope you will all at least read the last chapter and then trash me if you still want to. The last chapter should be up in a day or two. **


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